On the Boards: Stepping Stone Communities Affordable Housing

Stepping Stone Communities

ARCHITECT: KGA Studio Architects, PC

John Guilliams, AIA, jguilliams@kgarch.com, 303.442.5882

BUILDING SIZE: Width: 89 feet, 6 inches; Depth: 337 feet, 11 ½ inches; Living area: 22,664 sf

Lack of safe, affordable housing for adults with developmental disabilities presents a huge barrier for independent living. In Colorado alone, more than 10,000 adults with disabilities live with caretakers who are over 60 years old.

The founders of the nonprofit organization Stepping Stone Communities saw this overwhelming need for a different and better solution and they made it their mission to create affordable homes in intentional, integrated communities for adults with and without developmental disabilities.

This four-story, 84-unit apartment building is the nonprofit’s first project (and the first of its kind in the U.S.), with half of the units intended for adults who have developmental disabilities and the other half for the general public, specifically young professionals and senior citizens. The main level (see first plan, below) includes community living space and apartments, with three levels of housing units above. Tenants will operate the building cooperatively, with decisions made by a vote of the group as a whole.