HOUSING

Colorado is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. Democrats took historic action to address this crisis this year by investing $428 million in pandemic relief funds to preserve and construct new affordable housing, and by seeking to reduce barriers to housing that Colorado families can afford. 

Historic $428 Million Affordable Housing Package

Middle Income Access Program Expansion | SB22-146

Zenzinger & Hisey / Snyder & Catlin

Middle income families whose modest resources squeeze them between skyrocketing housing costs and ineligibility for housing assistance need help. This bill transfers $25 million to the Department of Local Affairs for further usage by the Colorado Housing & Finance Authority’s (CHFA) Middle Income Access Program (MIAP), which provides funding to developers seeking to build rental housing affordable to Coloradans earning 80% of the area median income and above. This portion of the population is sometimes referred to as the “missing middle,” with incomes too high for housing credit units but often overburdened by market rents. Overall, this program fills a gap in the marketplace, as existing state and federal resources primarily support the development of housing for those earning 60% AMI and below.

Revolving Loan Fund Invest Affordable Housing | SB22-159

Bridges & Zenzinger / Ortiz & Will

To solve Colorado’s crisis in affordable housing, we must encourage developers and the construction industry to expand our inventory. This bill creates the Transformational Affordable Housing Revolving Loan Fund Program in DOH to provide flexible, low-interest, and below-market rate loan funding to assist counties, municipalities, nonprofits, housing authorities, councils of government, and other eligible recipients in completing eligible loan projects. Eligible projects include developing & integrating infrastructure, providing gap financing for housing development projects, maintaining existing affordable housing, and financing energy improvements in affordable housing, and projects are prioritized based on criteria aiming to maximize funds and proportionately respond to the unique housing needs across the state. This program is funded by a $150 million transfer from the Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund.

Loan Program Resident-owned Communities | SB22-160

Gonzales & Hinrichsen / Boesenecker & Mandy

Mobile home parks are Colorado’s closest thing to ‘naturally-occurring’ affordable housing but mobile home park residents are feeling the pressure of skyrocketing housing costs. This bill creates three new programs in DOH to help mobile home residents stay in their homes. The Mobile Home Park Resident Empowerment Loan Program is created to provide both acquisitions and capital improvement financing to eligible homeowners in order to allow them to purchase their mobile home park. A technical assistance grant program is established to provide grants to one or more nonprofit organizations to provide technical and other assistance to eligible homeowners seeking to organize and purchase their mobile home park. A long-term affordability grant program is established to provide grants to eligible homeowners in order to support and maintain the long-term affordability of a resident owned mobile home park. All three programs are funded with a $35 million transfer from the Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund.

The Innovative Housing Incentive Program | HB22-1282

Bridges & Woodward / Mullica & Lynch

Too many Coloradans are getting priced out of the neighborhoods where they work and live. This bill will create good-paying jobs while quickly increasing our housing stock with quality, affordable homes that will help drive down housing costs and get roofs over heads as quickly as possible by creating the Innovative Housing Incentive Program in the Office of Economic Development & International Trade to support innovative housing businesses through funding from grants and loans. Innovative housing businesses include manufacturers of prefabricated panelized construction, 3-D printed housing, kit homes, tiny homes, and manufacturers of other manufactured homes, as originally defined in HB21-1019. Eligible recipients may use grants for operating expensive and per-unit subsidies based on a number of different factors, and may use loans for establishing or expanding factories in the state. This program is funded with $40 million from the Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund.

State Grants Investments Local Affordable Housing | HB22-1304

Gonzales & Coleman / Roberts & Bradfield

As Colorado’s population continues to grow, we have to make sure communities have the land and resources required to develop affordable housing now and in the future. This bill creates the Transformational Affordable Housing Grant Program in DOH to provide grants to local governments and nonprofits. Eligible uses of the funds include developing & integrating infrastructure, providing gap financing for housing development projects, increasing new affordable for-sale housing stock, and maintaining existing affordable housing, and projects are prioritized based on criteria aiming to maximize funds and proportionately respond to the unique housing needs across the state. This program is funded with a $138 million transfer from the Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund. The bill also creates the Infrastructure & Strong Communities Grant Program in DLG which will award infrastructure grants to local governments designed to incentivize them to develop affordable housing within sustainable development patterns, improving the viability of infill development opportunities. This program is funded by a $40 million transfer from the general fund.

Other Legislation Seeking to Reduce Barriers to Affordable Housing

Creation Of Colorado Workforce Housing Trust Authority | SB22-232

Bridges & Moreno / Herod & Bernett

Nurses, teachers, and firefighters must be able to afford to live where they work. This market-driven approach to increasing affordable housing will incentivize the rapid development of projects needed to make sure the folks keeping our communities running can actually call those communities home by creating the Middle-Income Housing Authority as a special purpose authority for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, rehabilitating, owning, operating, and financing affordable rental housing projects for middle-income workforce housing. The authority is governed by a board of directors composed of appointees by the governor with the consent of the senate. The bill is funded by a $1 million transfer from the general fund.

Mod Affordable Housing Tax Credit | HB22-1051

Zenzinger & Hisey / Bird & McKean

When it comes to affordable housing in Colorado, demand vastly exceeds supply, which is why this bill extends the Colorado Affordable Housing Tax Credit until 2031. Extending the tax credit — offered by the Colorado Housing & Finance Authority (CHFA) and set to expire in 2024 — for an additional 7 years will continue to help leverage private funds to support the development and preservation of affordable rental housing. This simple extension will result in at least $420 million in additional tax credits that can be allocated by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority over the next nine years. According to CHFA, the Colorado Affordable Housing Tax Credit has directly supported the development of 8,294 affordable rental units and allowed CHFA to support 28,267 total units using state and federal funds. 

Veterans And Military Status In Fair Housing | HB22-1102

Hinrichsen & Gardner / Ortiz & Sullivan

Coloradans who have stepped up to serve our country should never be denied access to housing due to their military status. This bill prohibits anyone selling or renting a house, apartment, or other dwelling from discriminating against an individual based on their veteran or military status. 

Senior Housing Income Tax Credit | HB22-1205

Coleman & Hansen / Weissman & Kennedy

Folks on fixed incomes have been hit hard by the housing affordability crisis, and they need our help to stay in their homes. This bill creates a refundable, means-tested income tax credit for income tax year 2022 available to Colorado taxpayers who are at least 65 years old as of the end of the tax year, whose adjusted gross income falls below $75,000, and who have not claimed a homestead property tax exemption for the 2022 property tax year.

Regulate Tiny Homes Manufacture Sale And Install | HB22-1242

Ginal & Hisey / Kipp & Exum

This bill provides parity to tiny homes by including them in many of the same statutes that regulate manufactured homes to give certainty to the industry and local governments that wish to include them as a method of increasing affordable housing capacity.

Protections For Mobile Home Park Residents | HB22-1287

Winter / Boesenecker & Hooton

Housing prices are skyrocketing for all of us, including our mobile home residents who are continually displaced by out-of-state investors. This bill takes aim at the problem, and builds upon several years of work to empower and protect mobile home park residents by increasing stability for residents by extending time periods and clarifies the information and forms that residents receive related to an opportunity to purchase their park, requiring notices and information to be in both Spanish and English, and allowing residents to assign their opportunity to purchase to a public entity who can then proceed on their behalf. The bill protects affordable housing by prohibiting a landlord from increasing lot rent if the park is not in compliance with other applicable laws and state registration processes. The bill also creates greater accountability by creating the authority for the Attorney General’s office as part of the duty of consumer protection to enforce, investigate, and bring legal action for violations of the Mobile Home Park Act, the Mobile Home Park Dispute Resolution Program, and the Mobile Home Owner Opportunity to Purchase provisions and giving the Division of Housing the bandwidth and authority to conduct investigations, issue cease and desist orders, and levy fines if appropriate.

Contaminated Land Income Tax & Property Tax Credit | HB22-1392

Moreno / Bird & Lindsay

Under current law, an affordable housing developer in Colorado can qualify for state property tax exemptions for 15 years and federal income tax credits for 30 years. This bill allows affordable housing projects to receive the Colorado state property tax exemptions for an extended period of 15 years to match the period available under federal law, among many other things.