In many ways, the 2024 legislative session was a direct echo of the 2023 session. To understand how/why this session transpired the way it did, it is important to take a quick look at the ideological undercurrents and real-time pressures which caused bills this year to be shaped the way they were.
Broadly speaking, Colorado legislators continue to feel pressure from a wide range of their constituents to make progress on housing affordability. These constituents include both middle-income households who are feeling the crunch for perhaps the first time, and lower income households who have fewer housing options today than ever before. The 40% increase in average property values last year underscored how broad the impact of the affordability crisis has become. If you were to listen in to conversations at the capitol leading up to bill -introductions and isolate the most frequently discussed topics, your list would likely look like the following:
| “You have to make way above middle income to afford a home these days” | “Housing supply simply doesn’t meet housing demand. If we don’t change that math, we will never dig out of this hole”
“No workforce housing, no workforce” |
| “Property taxes are getting way too high – but paradoxically school funding is getting way too low” | “Evictions are skyrocketing – in Denver alone, pre-COVID average was 8,000/year – in 2023 it was 12,910” |
| “Wait, what happens when we run out of ARPA money to fund affordable housing?” | “To navigate its increasing responsibilities in this increasingly complex sector, the State needs to revolutionize its approach to housing programs and funding” |
| “Every city needs to know what their housing needs are and then actually pull their weight from a regional perspective in addressing those needs” | “New market-rate middle-income housing supply is important, but how do we prevent all this development from accelerating gentrification?” |
Most housing bills this session related in some way to the zeitgeist of housing malaise illustrated above. These responses could be roughly categorized in the following way: 1) Upstream Supply/Demand, 2) Downstream Displacement/Homelessness, 3) Modernizing the State’s Role in Housing, and 4) Funding Low & Middle Income Housing Development.
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Upstream – Supply/Demand Bills The bills below were unique in that for the most part, they were not laser focused on direct housing programs for low-income households. Instead, they focused on targeting and eliminating regulatory barriers that prevent municipalities from being able to meet housing demand writ large. Thus, we saw bills which legalized ADUs, required housing needs assessments and action plans, required higher density zoning at transit centers, eliminated parking minimums to create more space for units, gave cities the ability to trigger a “right of first refusal” for local sales of affordable housing, and prevents cities from enacting residential occupancy limits that aren’t explicitly tied to health and safety. |
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| Bill | Description |
| HB24-1313
Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities |
Increases the minimum zone density around transit stops with 15-minute service intervals to a minimum of 15 units per acre, which must include affordable housing and multifamily development. Increases affordable housing tax credits by $5m to $8.3m, depending on the calendar year, for qualifying developments, and creates the affordable housing in transit-oriented communities income tax credit. Reduces the Housing Development Grand Fund by $35m. |
| HB24-1304 Minimum Parking Requirements | Prohibits a county or municipality, on or after January 1, 2025, from enforcing minimum parking requirements for real property that is within a metropolitan planning organization. |
| HB 24-1107 Judicial Review of Local Land Use Decision | Requires a court to award reasonable attorney fees to winning defendants in local land use decision appeals, excluding those initiated by the applicant. |
| HB 24-1007 Prohibit Residential Occupancy Limits | Prohibits local governments from enacting or enforcing residential occupancy limits based on familial relationship, but allows for limits based on health and safety standards, like building code standards, fire regulations, and water quality standards. |
| HB24-1152 Accessory Dwelling Units | Establishes ADUs as a use by right in single family districts.
Creates $8 million fund to support properties with affordable ADUs. |
| HB 24-1125 – Tax Credit Commercial Building Conversion | Creates an income tax credit to offset costs incurred in the conversion of a commercial structure to a residential structure. |
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Downstream – Anti-Displacement (renters & homeowners), Homelessness While many bills focused on long-term supply/demand fixes, other advocates and legislators focused on bringing assistance to bear for those in immediate housing crisis. These bills focused on limiting no-cause evictions, strengthening warranty of habitability regulations, and providing property tax relief. |
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| Bill | Description |
| HB 24-1098 Cause Required for Eviction of Residential Tenant | Bans landlords from evicting tenants during the term of a lease without cause. Eligible causes for evictions are failure to pay rent, lease violations, or damages to the property. Landlords must renew leases unless the landlord moves into, remodels, demolishes, repairs, or sells the unit. |
| SB24-094 Safe Housing for Residential Tenants | Sets a timeline for landlords to address issues after being notified by tenants. Clarifies the alternative lodgings process for tenants during repairs. Lets tenants use their own appropriate cooling in extreme heat. Outlines appropriate legal remedies for uninhabitable rentals. |
| SB24-233 Property Tax | This bill was the end-product of the tax commission before the special session was convened. It reduced assessment rates for some property classes, created caps on property tax increases, separated school district assessment rates, and adjusted valuation decreases (homestead exemptions). However, for the most up-to-date understanding of CO’s new property tax regime, see Special Session bill HB24-B-001 . |
| SB24-111 Senior Primary Residence Prop Tax Reduction | Creates a new subclass of residential real property called qualified-senior primary residence real property, which includes residential real property that as of the assessment date is used as the primary residence of an owner-occupier. |
| HB24-1322 Medicaid Coverage Housing & Nutrition Services | Directs the department of health care policy and financing to conduct a study to explore the feasibility of seeking federal authorization to provide nutrition and housing services that address medicaid members’ health-related social needs (HRSN). |
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Administrative – Modernization of State Housing Programs For affordable housing providers like NDC members, one of the biggest bottlenecks in delivering housing at any income level has occurred at the state level. This is because, while COVID resulted in a literal quintupling of state housing resources – state housing regulations were by default still tailored to administer pre-covid programs that were smaller than the housing budgets of many colorado cities. |
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| Bill | Description |
| HB24-1308 Effective Implementation of Affordable Housing Programs | This bill focused on improving administrative practices at the State Division of Housing. It requires detailed reporting housing applications and allocations, speeds up allocation timelines, and changes language in DOH’s legislative mandate from “maximize financial return on affordable housing programs” to “maximize positive outcomes for people served”. |
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Funding – Low & Middle Income Programs Lawmakers were aware that, though important, the above programs did not replace the need for more housing funding. They also felt that existing housing priorities did not sufficiently address “missing middle” housing. So, efforts also resulted in passing legislation that tripled state housing tax credits for low-income housing development, creating a brand-new tax credit program for development at Transit Oriented Communities, giving all CO cities the authority to waive taxes for development that served the public interest (including but not limited to housing), creating a third state housing tax credit to fund the development of middle-income housing, and forging a path toward the application of Medicaid dollars for supportive housing resident services. |
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| Bill | Description |
| HB24-1434 Expand Affordable Housing Tax Credit |
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| HB24-1316
Middle-Income Housing Tax Credit |
Pilot income tax credit program to fund the development of housing for middle-income households. “Middle-Income” is defined as 80% – 120% of the area median income (AMI) in most of the state; and 80% – 140% AMI for rural resort areas. |
| HB24-1322 Medicaid Coverage Housing & Nutrition Services | Directs the department of health care policy and financing to conduct a study to explore the feasibility of seeking federal authorization to provide nutrition and housing services that address medicaid members’ health-related social needs (HRSN). |