Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order today to require cities and counties in Colorado to show that they’re enacting recently passed state housing laws in order to be eligible for more than a $100 million in state grants in areas like transportation and energy.
Polis has made housing affordability and increasing housing capacity top priorities for his administration and said the new order is a way to ensure local communities are following the law.
“We're tying in our evaluation process for grants to make sure that communities are participating in More Housing Now and are on a timeline to be able to successfully implement the work of the legislature,” said Polis in an interview with CPR News ahead of the announcement.
Not all of the laws covered by the order have gone into effect yet and not all of them apply to every community in the state. For instance, the newly signed law to allow smaller apartment buildings in Colorado to be built with a single staircase, instead of the two, only applies to a dozen cities with more than 100,000 residents.
“To be eligible for any of the set of funds that we're designating, they need to show that they're following state law in these housing-related areas,” said Polis.
Other policies the governor wants to see enforced include:
- Requiring local governments to investigate and report on their unmet housing needs regularly
- Prohibiting residential occupancy limits
- Allowing accessory dwelling units
- Putting in place right-of-first refusal policies that would give local governments a better chance of purchasing affordable housing before it converts to market-rate
- Eliminating minimum parking requirements for new construction near transit hubs
- Regional building codes for factory built structures
- Requiring denser housing development near transit
Some local governments have pushed back on what they view as a heavy handed state approach on housing that usurps local authority, with some governments saying they don’t intend to comply with the laws that could lead to denser housing and less parking around transit.
“CML will review the executive order in detail to determine whether there is any legal or regulatory basis for it,” said Kevin Bommer, Colorado Municipal League executive director. “Regardless, CML continues to advocate for ‘partnership, not preemption.’”
In Denver, the mayor’s office said it was not aware of any potential impact from the executive order; many of the state policies are ones Colorado’s largest city has also embraced.
Polis said in the next month the Department of Local Affairs, the Colorado Energy Office, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the Department of Transportation will each have to determine the exact dollar amount and types of grants his executive order applies to. Polis said it’s mostly structural and capital grants.
“That's not highway funds, but it's many other things: walkable community grants, transit hub grants,” the governor explained.
Polis said language requiring local governments to follow housing laws in these areas will be added to the grant guidelines starting October 6. He noted the grants will also potentially reward local governments with policies that go further than the state’s.
“What we're basically saying is, ‘hey, we have limited state dollars. They need to go to communities that are part of the housing solution, which is a statewide challenge,'’’ said Polis. “We want communities to go above and beyond… but at least at a minimum, we want to make sure that they are allowing ADUs, allowing multifamily near transit.”
The governor said without the executive order, it would be up to individual Coloradans to sue their local governments to force them to comply with state housing laws.
“This is a more direct way to make sure we are following the laws that were passed,” he said.
Some housing advocates on Thursday applauded the governor’s directive. Zach Neumann, who leads the Colorado Economic Defense Project, called the news “awesome.”
But Patrick Noonan, program director at Brothers Redevelopment, said he thinks incentives work best to get compliance.
“I think a lot of cities are operating in good faith and trying to tackle these issues with the state,” he said.
Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Paul contributed to this story.
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