In the most recent effort to tackle Colorado’s affordable housing issue, Democrats in the state legislature voted to ban local housing growth caps on Thursday. 

If enacted, House Bill 1255 would prohibit local laws that limit annual housing construction or residential permits, and erase those that currently exist in several cities in Colorado, such as Boulder, Golden and Lakewood. The bill wouldn’t force local governments to approve specific housing developments, but they could no longer reject a proposal due to a growth cap.

The Senate passed the bill in a 20-15 vote on Thursday, following the House’s 38-25 passage last month. It will next go back to the House to approve a minor change from the Senate, and then to Gov. Jared Polis for final approval. 

“Colorado needs more housing,” said bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver. “I’m proud to champion policy that will help communities keep up with ongoing growth, ease displacement, and help us meet our housing needs.”

Sponsors of the bill said it will help increase Colorado’s housing stock and lead to lower prices. Critics argued it violates local control and won’t necessarily result in more affordable housing, as there is no requirement that the new housing built must be affordable. 

“These are their communities and we have no right, as the state, to take that power away from them,” said Rep. Rose Pugliese, R-Colorado Springs, who opposed the bill. “You’re taking away the control of local citizens to have a voice in our local government processes.” 

Municipalities that utilize growth caps said they can help preserve a community’s character and stay within the limits of their infrastructure. 

Only a handful of municipalities throughout the state have growth caps. For example, Boulder, Golden and Lakewood, which all only allow housing stock to expand by 1% each year. 

“This bill roots in four municipalities that set growth limits. That is four of 272 municipalities,” said Rep. Don Wilson, R-Monument, who opposed the bill.  who opposed the bill. Wilson argued that the legislation effectively means policymakers believe in “making state laws that override the municipalities’ ability to do what is necessary.”

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Sponsors of the bill argued that, while growth caps aren’t widely used in Colorado, they have a broad impact on surrounding municipalities and the state at large. 

Bill sponsor Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, said the growth caps increase the cost of housing in the municipalities that use them and push residents to live in neighboring districts. He said this overwhelms enrollment in the neighboring schools and increases the use of vehicles for people who work in the growth-capped district but are forced to live elsewhere — hurting state infrastructure and increasing emissions. 

“These growth caps affect housing prices, traffic, our environment, schools. There’s huge negative regional consequences because of them,” Lindstedt said. “When the government is going to regulate something, it should be done to protect public health, safety and welfare. These caps don’t do that.” 

Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, said the use of growth caps near Denver have put too much pressure on the city to build more housing to accommodate for rapidly rising populations. 

According to the bill declaration, Colorado needs to add more than 162,000 housing units by 2027 in order to restore its historical population-to-housing ratio from 1986 through 2008. Currently, the state is over 175,000 housing units short of achieving the ratio. 

“In southwest Denver, we are doing what we can to allow for more building in our community, but the surrounding communities are not,” said Mabrey, who supported the bill. “We need to have a statewide approach to our housing crisis.” 

Under the bill, municipalities could temporarily enforce growth caps for up to 24 months if there is a declared disaster emergency like a wildfire, to change land use laws or to address insufficient public infrastructure such as wastewater treatment. 

The legislature passed the bill mostly along party lines, with all Republicans voting against it and all but nine Democrats voting in support. 

The bill will be sent to Polis for final approval in the coming days. HB 1255 was part of the governor’s affordable housing package, introduced alongside his sweeping land use bill, Senate Bill 213. 

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