HOST's Equity Commitment

Equity has been identified as a core value for the City & County of Denver, Mayor Hancock’s administration, and the Department of Housing Stability (HOST). HOST assesses policy and spending decisions through a lens of equity for benefit, burden, and unintended consequences for historically marginalized communities. The department also uses data to inform our work so that race can no longer predict housing outcomes.

HOST also administers the Organizational Racial Equity Self-Assessment (ORESA) Survey to its staff every year. Read more about ORESA and our results.

Terminology for Equity & Inclusivity

In our commitment to equity, HOST recognizes that the language we use matters. It is our intent to honor the terms people use to identify themselves whenever possible. We sought out guidance from national and local experts in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and asked our own EDI team to review the terminology used in this plan and our work more broadly.

While not everyone agrees and standards are in constant flux, the terms below are defined here for reader understanding and will be updated with each annual action plan to reflect changes as needed. We are committed to being specific whenever possible so as not to overgeneralize, calling out where certain populations have different experiences from one another. And we are committed to using person-centered language that acknowledges we are all human first, and the adjectives used to describe us are neither permanent nor all encompassing of who we each are as people.

AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) -- inclusive of people of Asian, Asian-American, or Pacific Islander ancestry AIAN (American Indian or Alaska Native) -- inclusive of people of Native American, American Indian, Alaska Native or other American indigenous ancestry
Black – inclusive of people of Black and African-American ancestry
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) -- inclusive of people of Black or African-American, Latino or Hispanic, Native American Indian and other indigenous ancestry, Asian-American and Pacific Islander, and others who do not identify as white/non-Hispanic
Home – a place where a person or people reside; we use this in place of unit, apartment, house, etc.
Latino – inclusive of people of Latin or Hispanic ancestry
LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/ Questioning and others) – the plus infers inclusion of other sexual and gender identities, including those who identify as intersex, asexual, pansexual, pangender, agender, genderqueer, bigender, and gender variant
PEH (persons/people experiencing homelessness) – a person who does not have a permanent place to live
Residents – people who live in a place, regardless of what type or location; we use this instead of tenants or owners
White – inclusive of people of Caucasian ancestry

As part of our commitment to equity, HOST works to ensure that: 

Race no longer predicts outcomes for involuntary displacement, homelessness, homeownership, and housing-cost burden. 

As part of this core value, HOST is committed to leading with race. This approach is crucial to equity because every major system in the nation (criminal justice, education, housing, workforce economics, etc.) contains racial disparities that influence experiences and outcomes. HOST leads with race explicitly but not exclusively because these inequities persist in every system across the nation, without exception. 

In this work, HOST also understands the importance of intersectionality in equity; understanding that while leading with race, it is essential to acknowledge the barriers faced by other historically disenfranchised groups and the importance of tailoring HOST’s equity lens to the nuances of those experiences. As we lead with race, you may not always see age, gender identity, disability, or income level, or neighborhood called out explicitly throughout this plan. Rest assured, we are examining this demographic data to address disparate outcomes in these populations. 

Read more about HOST's commitment to equity in the Five Year Strategic Plan, and check out our progress on the dashboard below. 

 

 

Related Links

Back to top