A proposal is moving through the Colorado legislature that would boost the regional and statewide coordination that advocates say is needed to tackle homelessness across the state, after a similar measure failed last year.
The bill, House Bill 26-1202, would help communities coordinate homelessness prevention and reduction efforts and lay the groundwork for a comprehensive state-level strategy on the issue.
“We have to have a coherent strategy,” said Democratic State Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder, one of the bill’s sponsors. “There isn't just one thing that will fix this problem. It is about housing prices, but it's also about addiction. It's also about mental health. And so if we're going to get at it, we have to have a really comprehensive approach to what we're doing.”
The most significant provision in the bill would, starting in August, let any combination of local governments come together to form a political subdivision, called a multijurisdictional homelessness response authority, that would be tasked with preventing and reducing homelessness within the borders of all the participating communities.
“Homelessness doesn’t just exist in a silo of a specific city and so it shouldn’t be addressed on just a patchwork basis,” said Democratic State Rep. Manny Rutinel of Commerce City.
Each authority would be run by a board of directors and would have the ability to coordinate with both the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and one of the state’s ten federally recognized continuum of care organizations that coordinate housing resources in the state’s rural and nonmetro counties.
The multijurisdictional homelessness response authorities could also levy taxes through their participating local governments, but only if the participating local governments choose to give it that power in their initial agreement. The authorities would have to get approval from the voters of each local government before imposing any new taxes.
But the measure does seek to create some new funding to support local efforts to address homelessness. It would allow counties to use a portion of the revenue collected from real estate document filing fees, after administrative costs are covered, to help develop, preserve or acquire affordable housing for unhoused individuals.
The final piece of the bill would direct the Department of Local Affairs to put together a plan for statewide homelessness prevention and reduction, including a timeline, budget, and an implementation process. The agency would present the proposal when the 2027 legislative session begins next January.
Amabile said the plan needs to include ways to expand resources and assistance for people who are unhoused because of mental health or addiction.
“I think we've done a pretty good job of saying we need to really create a lot more affordable housing, and we're trying to do that,” Amabile, whose own son has struggled with schizophrenia, substance use disorder, and has been homeless, said. “But we haven't done nearly as effective a job at trying to help people who are sick and need health care and that their illness is leading to them being on the street.”
The measure is based on an effort from last year that failed. Last year’s bill would have created an interagency council on homelessness within the governor’s office. It would have included representatives from eight state agencies, along with an advisory group made up of advocates and others with experience in homelessness prevention and reduction.
But the bill was rejected in its first legislative hearing. Rutinel, who was also a sponsor of it last year, said it failed in large part because it required funding at a time when the state was facing a massive budget shortfall. With lawmakers facing another dire budget situation, the interagency council and advisory group were not included this year and, without it, the measure doesn’t require any funding at all.
Advocates for unhoused residents have been calling for a statewide homelessness strategy for years.
Cathy Alderman with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said that, although pockets of the state have implemented their own initiatives to address homelessness, the approach is scattered and disconnected.
“It's not working for local governments, and it's not working for communities that are seeing homelessness increase year over year,” Alderman said. “The comprehensiveness of this bill is to say we need a statewide strategy so that local governments and service providers all know what the state's goals are and how they can participate in achieving those goals.”
Alderman also said homelessness is not a one-size-fits-all problem across Colorado’s diverse communities.
“Some parts of our state need to think about how homelessness exists in our state parks and national parks, and some of our areas of the state need to know what homelessness response looks like on the actual streets of the city or town,” Alderman said.
House Bill 1202 also has wide support from local governments. The Colorado Municipal League, which represents the state’s towns and cities at the state Capitol, and Counties and Commissioners Acting Together, which includes counties and county commissioners from across the state, both testified in support of the measure.
But Republican lawmakers oppose it. Every GOP member of the Colorado House voted against the bill when the chamber considered it last month.
State Rep. Chris Richardson of Elbert County took issue with the provision that would allow the revenue from documentary filing fees to be used for affordable housing, which he said could amount to an improper use of revenue under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
“It essentially converts it into the use of a tax, and this raises a concern with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” Richardson said. “Fees should be related to the services that they fund. And directly related, not loosely related.”
The bill had near-unanimous support from House Democrats and passed the chamber. It now awaits consideration in the Senate.
