(1) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that: (a) Since the "Local Government Land Use Control Enabling Act of 1974", article 20 of this title 29, was adopted, Colorado's population has more than doubled, with the state growing at twice the national rate between 2010 and 2020; (b) The Colorado state demography office estimates that Colorado will add one million seven hundred thousand two hundred people by 2050, bringing Colorado's population to nearly seven million five hundred thousand. The need for housing for the growing population is an issue that affects all Colorado communities regardless of region or size. In a bipartisan poll conducted by the Colorado Polling Institute in November 2023, Colorado voters listed housing affordability as one of their top five issues for the Colorado state government to address. Therefore, it is critical to address the cost and availability of housing across the state to address historic population growth. (c) In experiencing significant population growth at a time of increased vehicle ownership and commute times, the supply and affordability of housing in one community affects the resources of neighboring communities. Colorado's need for housing impacts the state's transit, transportation, employment, economy, energy, water, and infrastructure and requires innovative, collaborative solutions. (d) Colorado's housing supply has not kept pace with population growth in the state. Between 2010 and 2020, Colorado added one hundred twenty-six thousand fewer housing units than in the prior decade, despite Colorado's population increasing by a similar amount in each decade. The state demographer estimates that between approximately sixty-five thousand and ninety thousand housing units are needed to keep pace with Colorado's current population growth. (e) Across the state, Colorado needs more housing urgently to support our growing workforce, and housing opportunities are needed across all income levels. Addressing the critical issue of cost and availability of housing requires maintaining and expanding access to affordable and attainable housing by removing barriers to and expediting new housing opportunities for every community, especially near transit. As housing rents and prices have increased faster than wages across the state, individual households are experiencing displacement from homes they could once afford and having to live farther from work with increased commute times. As state and local governments seek to increase housing options and address affordability for residents, it is essential to provide solutions that incorporate transit needs as well. (f) Between 2010 and 2021, the percentage of Coloradans making less than seventy-five thousand dollars a year who were housing cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than thirty percent of their income on housing needs, increased from fifty-four percent to sixty-one percent, and, for renters making less than seventy-five thousand dollars a year, that percentage increased from fifty-nine percent to seventy-three percent, according to the American Community Survey; (g) Nationally, cities with the highest housing costs and lowest vacancy rates experience the highest rates of homelessness, according to a report by the Urban Institute, "Unsheltered Homelessness: Trends, Characteristics, and Homeless Histories". These indicators explain a greater portion of the variation in regional rates of homelessness than other commonly assumed factors, such as poverty rate, substance use, or mental illness, according to a study in the European Journal of Housing Policy, "The Economics of Homelessness: The Evidence from North America". (h) Housing prices are typically higher when housing supply is restricted by local land use regulations in a metropolitan region, according to studies such as the National Bureau Of Economic Research working papers "Regulation and Housing Supply" and "The Impact of Zoning on Housing Affordability". Increasing housing supply moderates price increases and improves housing affordability across all incomes, according to studies such as "The Economic Implications of Housing Supply", in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and "Supply Skepticism: Housing Supply and Affordability", in the journal Housing Policy Debate. (i) Researchers have found substantial evidence that new housing construction enables households to move within a region, opens up housing options for more diverse income levels, and promotes competition that limits housing cost increases, according to the New York University Law and Economics research paper "Supply Skepticism Revisited". While new housing supply can rarely meet the needs of the lowest income households, enabling new housing supply can moderate price increases and reduce the number of households that need subsidies to afford housing. Resident opposition frequently limits new housing development in existing communities and either leads to less housing production and increased housing costs or pushes housing development to greenfield areas where there are fewer neighbors but greater environmental and fiscal costs.
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