Senate Approves Bill to Deter Meritless Lawsuits from Preventing Housing Development

DENVER, CO – Assistant Majority Leader Faith Winter, D-Broomfield, and Senator Jeff Bridges’, D-Arapahoe County, legislation to incentivize more housing options for Coloradans was approved by the Senate today.

HB24-1107 would streamline processes at the local level to build additional, denser housing by protecting the court appeals process from abuse and undue delays. To deter meritless lawsuits from those opposed to increasing housing density, the bill would require a court to award reasonable attorney fees to a local government that prevails in a legal challenge of a local land use decision involving housing aimed to increase density.

“Colorado faces both a housing and climate crisis,” said Winter. “Meritless lawsuits create delays and uncertainty for denser, more climate-conscious housing development projects, and can sometimes stop them altogether. We must build more housing at every price point and do so in a way that addresses the climate crisis, and this important bill will make it easier to do just that.”

"We have a housing affordability crisis in our state and our nation, and this bill is all about increasing the supply of housing that Coloradans can afford,” Bridges said. “Over and over, we've seen people use spurious lawsuits to create years of costly delays for developers of high density, affordable housing. Time is money, and every delay makes it less likely these projects will get built. If a local government shirks its duty and inappropriately approves a project, nothing in this bill prevents someone from filing a lawsuit, winning that lawsuit, and stopping the project. The bill strikes the right balance between protecting the rights of existing homeowners while making it more difficult for a few outspoken neighbors to weaponize the judicial process to stop affordable housing.”

Filing an action for judicial review of a local land use decision does not affect the validity of the local land use decision. The bill would authorize a governmental entity and the public to rely on the local land use decision for all purposes until the judicial review is resolved.

HB24-1107 now moves to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Track its progress HERE.