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A bill introduced in the Colorado legislature Tuesday afternoon aimed at boosting the state’s housing supply through accessory dwelling units has one key caveat: most mountain towns won’t have to abide by it.
If passed, House Bill 1152 would strip the abilities of some local governments’ — mostly those in the densely populated Front Range — from being able to prevent homeowners from building accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats or mother-in-law suites.
As defined by the bill, an accessory dwelling unit or ADU can be inside a home, attached to a home or a completely separate structure on the same lot. It must have the capacity for someone to live independently, including facilities for sleeping, eating, cooking and going to the bathroom.
Proponents hope that by paving the way for construction of more ADUs, the supply of housing will increase, alleviating the strain on the market and decreasing costs.
But Colorado’s mountain towns, many of which face some of the highest housing costs in the state, will be exempt from the requirements. Instead, they will be given the choice to “opt into” the program and if they follow certain requirements, receive incentives such as grant dollars offered under the bill.
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Partly, that’s because leaders in rural resort communities are worried that allowing more ADUs will only feed their communities’ short-term rental markets while further exacerbating the workforce housing shortage.
Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, said he sees ADUs as an effective tool to help with mountain communities’ affordable housing needs but said they need to include restrictions to ensure they’re being rented to people in need of housing rather than just tourists.
“I’m pleased to see that we don’t fall under this strict state mandate that’s proposed in the bill,” he said. “Rather, our communities can opt in and craft a program that works for their town.”
Some counties already have their own local rules in place for the structures. Summit County, for instance, allows ADUs to be built but requires them to be rented to the local workforce. The county also has a local grant program to incentivize ADUs. Grand County doesn’t allow ADUs to be built because of water limitations.
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“I think there are unique challenges around infrastructure in our mountain communities,” said House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon. “Depending on where people want to add accessory dwelling units in the community, I think there are legitimate concerns with density that aren’t NIMBYism.”
That’s a reference to the “not in my backyard” mentality sometimes seen in Colorado or elsewhere when residents don’t want something built or done in their neighborhood, even if they support it happening somewhere else.
Rep. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, is a sponsor of House Bill 1152, which is one of the first pieces of legislation to roll out as part of the governor’s and other Democrats’ plans to address ballooning housing costs in the state.
Amabile acknowledges that she was concerned about mountain towns’ housing costs when working on the bill, but she also has a more pressing concern: “We want to get it passed.”
“Given what happened last year and the makeup of the committees and the people who are here at the table, this seemed like a first step,” she said.
The bill comes one year after the governor’s landmark housing legislation, Senate Bill 213, failed in the final days of the session. The 105-page bill was introduced as a sweeping overhaul of local land-use decisions with the goal of increasing density across the state through ADUs, transit-oriented development and other regulations. Rural resort communities were also treated differently than other areas under that bill.
This time around, Polis’ team has decided to cut the bill into smaller pieces such as the standalone ADU bill.
The rules laid out by the bill would only apply to communities under metropolitan planning organizations, including Front Range communities like Denver, Boulder and Pueblo and Grand Junction on the Western Slope.
If approved, it would create two programs to incentivize ADU construction. One would be a grant program to support ADUs by reducing fees and providing technical assistance to people building them. Another would provide affordable loans and other financing tools to build an ADU.
To be eligible for those programs, local governments must be deemed a “supportive jurisdiction” after submitting a form to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs showing that the community is following requirements under the bill and is implementing strategies to promote ADU construction.
The bill is also sponsored by Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, Sen. Kyle Mullica, D-Thornton and Sen. Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs. It was assigned to the House committee on Transportation, Housing & Local Government.