C.R.S. § 29-35-501: Legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a) Coloradans are overwhelmingly burdened with the cost of housing. The number of households that spend more than thirty percent of their total income on rent or mortgage payments in Colorado increased from six hundred sixty-eight thousand one hundred in 2014 to eight hundred fifty thousand eight hundred in 2024, representing thirty-five percent of all households.

(b) A contributing factor to the increase in cost-burdened households is that population growth has outpaced new housing development, resulting in supply constraints and escalating costs. Between 2000 and 2023, residential property values and rental rates increased at rates exceeding income growth, thereby exerting considerable financial strain on many residents. A 2025 research brief published by the Colorado state demography office titled "Colorado's Housing Shortfall: An Estimate and Review of Existing Studies" estimated that, as of 2023, an additional one hundred six thousand housing units were needed to overcome the housing shortfall, and thirty-four thousand one hundred units needed to be built annually to maintain the housing shortage at its 2023 level.

(c) As Colorado grows, so does the challenge of providing affordable housing to residents. While land that is available for new housing in established communities is in short supply, many qualifying organizations own underutilized properties where housing could be built.

(d) Colorado urgently needs more housing to meet the needs of a growing statewide population and address issues directly related to housing, such as transit, commuting, the workforce, and the environment. Providing opportunities to construct residential developments on underutilized land is a matter of mixed statewide and local concern.

(e) Local zoning regulations often prevent housing from being developed on vacant properties by prohibiting residential development on qualifying properties or by requiring extensive rezoning processes that add cost and uncertainty to affordable housing projects.

(f) This House Bill 26-1001, enacted in 2026, streamlines the construction of affordable housing by providing a process that allows residential developments to be constructed on qualifying properties as long as certain requirements are satisfied.

(g) According to a 2022 article published in the Journal of the American Planning Association titled "Does Discretion Delay Development?", residential projects that went through administrative approval processes were approved twenty-eight percent faster than residential projects that went through discretionary approval processes, and faster approval times reduce developer costs and therefore housing costs. Studies have shown that homebuilders, including affordable housing developers, will avoid parcels that need to go through a discretionary process.

(h) A 2022 research paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston titled "How to Increase Housing Affordability: Understanding Local Deterrents to Building Multifamily Housing" found that relaxing density restrictions, either alone or in combination with relaxing maximum height restrictions, is the most effective policy reform for increasing the housing supply and reducing multifamily rents and single-family home prices. This paper also found that even if multifamily zoning is allowed, municipalities often limit the size or shape of buildings with height restrictions.

(i) Research examining three decades of rezoning decisions in Henrico County, Virginia, demonstrated that public participation in residential rezoning processes is overwhelmingly oppositional, with more than eighty-five percent of commenters raising concerns about perceived negative impacts of new development related to density, site design, and parking. As a result, local governments frequently impose conditions that go beyond baseline zoning standards to reduce density. Prohibiting the application of these more restrictive standards to residential developments ensures development standards are applied consistently and objectively, rather than being applied ad hoc in discretionary processes driven by opposition.

(j) Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans have one or more disabilities and this number continues to increase as the population ages. Ensuring fair and accessible housing benefits individuals with disabilities and provides safer working conditions for home health-care workers. Federal, state, and local laws that provide accessibility protections such as the federal "Fair Housing Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 3601 et seq., the federal "Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990", 42 U.S.C. sec. 12101 et seq., and the "Colorado Anti-discrimination Act", parts 3 to 8 of article 34 of title 24, are imperative to increasing accessible housing opportunities.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:

(a) Community opposition and restrictive local land use policies limit the housing supply, impact housing options for Coloradans of low and moderate incomes, and restrict the availability of workforce housing, thereby affecting employment growth.

(b) When local governments restrict housing developments within their jurisdictions, they impact neighboring local governments. An increase in job growth in one community without a corresponding growth in housing leads to a housing shortfall in the community. Research has shown that regional imbalances between jobs and housing have significant impacts on vehicle miles traveled and commute times across jurisdictions, according to studies such as "Which Reduces Vehicle Travel More: Jobs-Housing Balance or Retail-Housing Mixing?", published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. When people are unable to live near where they work, workers' only option is to spend more hours on the road commuting. Longer commutes increase vehicle traffic, put additional strain on Colorado's roads, and increase pollution.

(c) The availability of affordable housing is a matter of mixed statewide and local concern.

(d) Colorado has a legitimate state interest in managing population and development growth and ensuring a stable quality and quantity of housing for Coloradans, as this is among the most pressing problems currently facing communities throughout Colorado.

(3) The general assembly further finds and declares that this House Bill 26-1001, enacted in 2026, is intended to:

(a) Streamline residential development processes to reduce housing construction costs while ensuring subject jurisdictions are able to apply all relevant public health and safety codes that typically apply to residential development;

(b) Allow flexibility for subject jurisdictions to determine appropriate site design standards for residential developments by using standards that apply to similar housing pursuant to section 29-35-504 (1)(d). For example, if a subject jurisdiction receives a development application to build single-family dwellings, the subject jurisdiction may apply site design standards that are consistent with a zone district that allows single-family dwellings by-right. If a subject jurisdiction receives a development application for multi-unit dwellings, the subject jurisdiction may apply site design standards that are consistent with a zone district that allows multi-unit dwellings by-right; and

(c) Build upon recent laws that authorize and encourage school districts and local governments to promote affordable housing, such as:

(I) House Bill 21-1117, concerning the ability of local governments to promote the development of new affordable housing units pursuant to their existing authority to regulate land use within their territorial boundaries;

(II) Senate Bill 24-174, concerning state support for sustainable affordable housing; and

(III) House Bill 25-1006, concerning allowing a school district to lease district property for any term of years, which allows a board of education of a school district to lease land for affordable housing for any term of years if the board of education develops a policy that defines affordable housing for the project.

(4) Therefore, the general assembly finds, determines, and declares that local government policies that limit the construction of a diverse range of housing in areas served by infrastructure and that effectively create housing supply shortfalls and unsustainable development patterns, require a statewide solution.