THE ISSUES

Colorado Faces Significant Housing Affordability Challenges

Our state continues to attract new residents and jobs.  With this growth has come ever-increasing housing prices.  The high cost of housing is apparent throughout Colorado’s large cities, suburban areas, and even some of our small towns.  Employers have struggled to attract service industry workers due to the lack of affordable housing, young professionals cannot afford starter homes in our metropolitan areas, and—at the extreme end of the affordability crisis—we see increasing evidence of homelessness in many of our communities.

The high cost of housing is apparent throughout Colorado’s large cities, suburban areas, and even some of our small towns.

Recent news reporting highlights several aspects of Colorado’s housing affordability crisis:

OUR PLATFORM

Tackling all of the problems that contribute to Colorado’s high housing costs is a big task. CHAP’s initial area of focus is: removing zoning barriers to the development of affordable forms of housing.

THE ISSUES

Colorado’s economy continues to grow, yet housing construction has not kept up. This hurts all of us, particularly lower- to middle-income workers.

THE RESEARCH

Research shows that unaffordable housing slows economic growth, changes the makeup of our neighborhoods, and hurts the environment by promoting sprawl and traffic. Building housing in the right places in our communities is a win-win for our families, our communities, and our economy.