One of the most pressing concerns affecting Colorado is the price of housing. A study conducted by the Colorado Polling Institute of 2024 General Election voters found cost of living as the most important issue to address, with housing affordability close behind crime and public safety in third.
Legislators have heard those concerns, and they’ve introduced a slew of bills aimed at tackling housing affordability. These bills address the issue from a variety of fronts. Some provide renters with more protections, while others look to increase housing supply by providing incentives and protecting property developers.
Changing the Rental Landscape
Several bills working through the legislature would add a range of protections for tenants and renters into law. Senate Bill 24-094, Safe Housing for Residential Tenants, modifies habitability laws, clarifies actions that constitute a breach of habitability and updates procedures for both landlords and tenants when a warrant of habitability claim is alleged by the tenant.
On top of these changes to habitability laws, a bill championed by Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey would require a cause for a landlord to evict a residential tenant. House Bill 24-1098 lays out these causes, as well as grounds for a “no-fault eviction.” The bill also includes a provision that would require landlords who proceed with a no-fault eviction in violation of certain notice requirements or other restrictions to provide relocation assistance to the tenant affected.
In certain areas of Colorado, there could be more residents in each property. According to the bill text of HB24-1007, the Colorado General Assembly “aims to encourage denser living arrangements” and “seeks to limit the ability of local governments to impose arbitrary occupancy limits.” The bill strikes the ability of local governments to limit the number of people who can live together based on familial relationships, but still allows a government to limit occupancy based on health and safety standards.
Another bill, HB24-1057, would change how landlords can set rent prices in the state of Colorado. The bill would make the use of certain algorithmic devices in setting rent prices an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.
In addition to the changes on rent setting, HB24-1259 would make it a deceptive trade practice to engage in rental price gouging during a disaster period within the designated disaster area.
An Eye Toward Expanding Housing Supply
Hand in hand with these protections and efforts to reduce prices are bills aimed at increasing housing supply across the state.
HB24-1152 focuses on increasing the number of accessory dwelling units in the state. It establishes requirements for the units and requires jurisdictions subject to the bill to allow the construction or conversion of an accessory dwelling unit. The bill backs the law with $8 million, given to the Colorado Economic Development Commission to contract with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority to operate programs laid out in the bill.
A separate bill aims to tie housing and transit more tightly together. HB24-1313 establishes transit-oriented communities as a category of local government and requires the community to meet a housing opportunity goal. In order to meet this goal, the community must ensure enough areas inside it qualify as transit centers. In the bill is an allocation structure meant as an incentive for these communities. The bill also creates an infrastructure fund grant program to the tune of $35 million for 2024.
The legislature also has government property rights on the agenda. HB24-1175 creates two property rights, a right of first refusal and a right of first offer, for local governments on certain types of multi-family rental properties. The right of first offer is a temporary one, with a termination date of Dec. 31, 2029. The right of first refusal doesn’t have an expiration date, and gives local governments the right of first refusal to match an acceptable offer for the purchase of multifamily rental properties that are existing affordable housing.
Affordable housing could also be subject to new implementation guidelines in Colorado if HB24-1308 becomes law. A bipartisan effort, sponsored by Republican Rep. Lisa Frizell and Democratic Rep. William Lindstedt, the bill has three main prongs. First, the bill adds annual reporting requirements concerning applications for affordable housing programs and money in and issued from the housing development grant fund. Second, it creates a process for reviewing and approving applications for all affordable housing programs by the division of housing. Third, it allows a credit for donated land to count towards eligibility for affordable housing funding.
Protections for Property Developers and Owners
Property developers and owners aren’t left out of the focus on housing in this year’s legislative session. SB24-106 affects the Construction Defect Reform Act. The bill creates a right for a construction professional to remedy a claim made against them by doing remedial work or by hiring another construction professional to perform the work. The bill would also require a unit owners’ association to obtain written consent of at least two-thirds of the actual owners of units to bring forth a claim or related action.
The bill also outlines when a claimant can seek damages. Under the new law, a claimant would only be able to seek damages if a building failure results in actual damage to real or personal property, actual loss of the use of real or personal property, bodily injury or wrongful death or a risk of bodily injury or death to, or a threat to the life, health or safety of the occupants.
SB24-112 also affects construction developers and unit owners’ associations. The first section of the bill adds disclaimers to the CDARA with respect to warranties provided or not provided by construction professionals, and makes a modification to what a construction professional can be liable for. The bill also makes modifications to the process a unit owners’ association must follow before bringing a construction defect action.
Property owners will have some of their legal rights changed if HB24-1230 becomes law. The bill increases the amount of time a lawsuit related to property improvements may be brought from six to 10 years after the claim arises. In addition, the bill also voids a provision in a real estate contract prohibiting group lawsuits against a construction professional.