The East Colfax Mixed Income Neighborhood Trust, a housing-preservation vehicle created by the East Colfax Community Collective in partnership with Trust Neighborhoods, launched in September 2024 with the acquisition of a 23-unit apartment building on Xenia Street in the East Colfax Corridor.

The trust said it completed major renovations to make the building more habitable, including a remodeled heating system, roof and courtyard repairs, and security upgrades. Organizers described the trust as a community-controlled model that acquires, owns and operates rental properties to stabilize rents, improve living conditions and establish community governance of housing along Colfax Avenue in East Denver and northwestern Aurora.

The trust aims to have 100 units under contract by 2025 and a long-term target of 1,000 units within a decade. Presenters told the meeting they intend to acquire another property by fall 2025.

A community speaker who identified themselves as a resident expressed the neighborhood stakes in a direct comment: “My hope is that, like, just like this neighborhood beautiful, that we can keep the neighborhood as beautiful, that people take pride in what they, in in the neighborhood, and the fact that the Mint is purchasing property so that we can make it habitable for for people in the areas and stuff like that so they can take pride in it so that we can draw, draw down things like drugs, drug dealing, prostitution, things like that. We wanna get rid of all of that.”

Speakers also noted the trust’s work aligns with Metro Vision’s objectives for healthy, inclusive and livable communities, and the East Colfax Community Collective received a 2025 Metro Vision Award, the presenters said.

Organizers described the model as a tool to keep long-term affordability and community governance in neighborhoods facing rising rents; funding sources and the full financing plan for future acquisitions were not specified in the presentation.

Next steps listed in the presentation include pursuing at least one additional acquisition by fall 2025 and continuing renovations and tenant-stability work at the recently purchased property. No formal votes or government actions were recorded in the transcript excerpt.