Charles Marohn, president of Strong Towns, will be giving an “Escaping the Housing Trap” presentation in Longmont, Colorado, on September 12, 2024.
This event is hosted by LAUNCH Longmont Housing
LOCATION: Heart of Longmont | DATE: September 12, 2024 | TIME: 6 p.m. MDT
LAUNCH Longmont Housing will host Strong Town’s founder and president Chuck Marohn for Colorado’s only stop on a national book tour for his newly released book, “Escaping the Housing Trap.” The book covers the tension between housing as a financial product and housing as a shelter and discusses the solutions to help resolve the housing crisis.
Doors open on September 12 at 6 p.m. with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Heart of Longmont Church (350 11th Ave. Longmont, CO 80501) with a workshop for developers and government officials the following week. Tickets are $5 with proceeds benefiting the Wesley Townhomes, an innovative collaboration between The Inn Between and Heart of Longmont to convert a parking lot into affordable homes for families.
Chuck Marohn’s talk will include direct applications of new planning concepts in local communities, a Q&A and a book signing. Following the talk, there will be a tabling event for local and regional nonprofits offering information and opportunities to get involved.
Some highlights of the discussion will include the following:
How the tension between housing as an investment and housing as shelter impacts where and how people live.
How regulations designed to facilitate the rapid growth of cities end up stagnating neighborhoods and creating artificial housing shortages.
Where cities can effectively intervene to make their housing market more locally responsive, broadly increasing affordability without participating in the boom-and-bust cycle of the broader housing market.
LAUNCH is partnering with a range of Front Range organizations advocating for housing affordability, including Heart of Longmont, NuSo Boulder, Strong Towns Fort Collins, Strong Denver, YIMBY Fort Collins, NoCo Housing Now and Prosper Longmont in order to make this event a reality.
As the only planned stop in Colorado, this event presents a unique opportunity for the Boulder County, Metro Denver and Northern Front Range communities. The aim of this talk is to empower regional communities with the knowledge that escalating housing costs can be managed by local policies and public involvement.
By inspiring the public with this message, the hope is to create momentum toward realizing and acting on solutions, as well as informing our policymakers of housing issues and providing them with the tools and relationships needed to act on them.
About LAUNCH Longmont Housing
LAUNCH Longmont Housing is a grassroots organization based in Longmont advocating for policy changes that aim to reduce the cost of housing, strengthen public transit, create family-friendly neighborhoods, and foster a more inclusive and affordable place to live. LAUNCH’s major role in its community is to educate the public regarding options, implications and benefits of a more affordable community.
