Colorado Erases Local Growth Limits

House Bill 23-1255 goes into effect this week in Colorado—a law signed in June 2023 that prohibits local governments from setting limits on growth by capping the number of housing permits allowed in a year.

HB 23-1255 will directly counter a local law approved by voters in the city of Lakewood four years ago that capped annual residential construction at one percent of the current housing stock.

“The measure not only outlaws future housing caps in Colorado, it renders growth control policies that already exist obsolete,” reports John Aguilar for a paywalled article published by the Denver Post. “Besides Lakewood, Golden and Boulder have growth limits.”

Proponents of HB 23-215 argue that the growth limits set by specific cities in Colorado contribute to escalating prices and rising numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the neighboring cities and around the region. Opponents take issue with the loss of local control of zoning codes and land use regulation.

“From 2011 to 2021, metro Denver ranked 10th among 187 metro areas studied, with an average daily gain in home prices of $94 and a price increase from $231,400 to $607,100,” writes Aguilar. “In July, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative reported a 31.7% rise from 2022 to 2023 in the metro area’s homeless population — from 6,884 to more than 9,000.”

As noted by Aguilar, another bill, SB 23-213, or the “More Homes Now” bill, received much more attention and debate during this year’s legislative session, and fell to defeat while HB 23-1255 snuck through under the radar.