BOULDER, Colo. — Two issues are at the top of the list for voters and many of the Boulder City Council candidates as the Nov. 3 election draws closer: housing affordability and the environment. And they’re more intertwined than voters may realize.
Many of the 13 candidates running for the five open seats have centered their campaigns on environmental priorities like carbon emissions, sustainability or preventing wildfires, but implementing such goals could clash with housing concerns, specifically building regulations and affordable housing plans.
Council hopeful Jill Grano said that the key is to build housing for people who plan to live in Boulder, making it a place for everyone to stay.
“I think a lot of it comes down to housing and to making sure that we are building housing for people who actually live here, not for wealthy second homeowners. The biggest stain on Boulder’s environmental records are commuters. We still have almost 60,000 commuters every single day in single occupancy vehicles,” Grano said. “It's an insane amount of carbon emissions. So we do all this work that I support to electrify buildings in the city and we have some of the strictest energy codes when it comes to building requirements.
“But if we have 60,000 people working here who can't live here, that's just a persistent problem,” she added.
Boulder already has a “Climate Tax” that raises money for projects such as “microgrids” and energy storage to support renewable energy, as well as a carbon tax on electricity from fossil fuels since 2006. Grano believes her housing plans (mainly to build more affordable housing around Boulder) could be achieved in a way that would not be harmful — and would create a “launching point” to tackle some of the larger environmental issues.
Ryan Jamieson, a first-time candidate, also emphasizes environmental issues. He watched the Goat Trail fire last winter from his 8-year-old son’s bedroom, and decided he’d run for council.
“We have a climate tax and that collects around $9 million a year, and about a million and a half of that goes to wildfire remediation, with the other $7.5 million of that going to generalized climate initiatives,” Jamieson said. “I want to basically reallocate that. The only reason we haven't had a Marshall Fire (in Boulder) is because we just haven't had a windy day when we've had a fire up on the mountains. It is blind luck. And I would rather be prepared than lucky.”
Many Boulder residents have personal horror stories from the fires of previous years, including council candidate Benita Duran, who is no stranger to local government, having worked for Boulder and Denver in the past 35 years
During the Goat Trail fire, she went door-to-door in her neighborhood, making sure that her neighbors had time to prepare for potential evacuation.
“If there is a fire, people need to know how to get out,” Duran said. “And we have to make sure that our oldest populations know how they're being transported out of town to be safe. I'm really advocating for more sound practices related to getting people safely out of the city when needed.”
Both Jamieson and Duran want to increase controlled burns and reduce open space if elected to city council. And, they are not the only ones taking money and policy into account when considering these changes.
Councilwoman Tara Winer is running for another four-year term, and has seen the tug of war between tackling environmental issues and building more affordable housing. To her, it is difficult to solve one without causing harm to the other.
“The funny thing about the environment and housing is sometimes you have unintended consequences from different laws,” Winer said. “So the unintended consequence from the environmental building law is true. We have less carbon emissions, because we have better buildings, but then the prices of our buildings and housing goes up. But if you build more housing, it could affect the environment.
“You have to find a middle ground and do your best.”
According to Winer, wildfires are one of the biggest issues of this election cycle. A survey conducted by the city council in 2025 showed the community listed wildfires as one of their biggest concerns, along with housing and carbon emissions.
“You can't burden homeowners or property owners with regulations that make it even more expensive to get something done,” said Duran, who agrees with Winer in terms of finding a middle ground. “So I'm really cautious about, like, making sure that we do that in a very thoughtful manner.”
Incumbent Ryan Schuchard who is seeking a second term, shares a similar viewpoint to Grano and Winer. An urbanist, Schuchard is focused on making Boulder accessible for everyone, and wants to decrease carbon emissions from cars.
“It’s really about planning, design and infrastructure,” Schuchard said. “As a climate advocate, I want to reform the way we do land use here. There is a conversation between housing and transportation. We shouldn’t just be building single family homes, you shouldn’t have to have a car to survive here and this is one of the best ways where we can structurally reduce energy use in the city.”
Jamieson acknowledged a universal truth — “everybody's always against wildfire” — but challenged voters to think about what they want to see as the time for ballots to be cast draws closer.
“In the Army, they teach you, you see something that's wrong and broken. Don't ignore it. Don't complain about it. Just go fix it,” he said. “And that’s what we need for the council.”