Over the past year, local governments across Colorado have taken action to address the state’s significant housing shortage and affordability crisis. This progress has been driven by both the recent spike in housing costs and a landmark package of 2024 state laws aimed at updating land use and zoning codes to allow more housing choices in Colorado’s communities, where people work and want to live. These reforms will not only unlock more housing, but they’ll also create more sustainable, efficient, and equitable urban growth to support Colorado’s climate and transportation goals.
At the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), we’ve been closely tracking city council meetings and local policy discussions across Colorado to monitor implementation. What we’re seeing is encouraging – many local governments are taking steps to align local codes with the state laws, and in some cases, cities are taking the opportunity to go above and beyond the minimum legislative requirements to meet their community needs and allow for a greater number and diversity of housing types. In this report, we outline the basic requirements of each law and highlight examples of cities that have updated, or are in the process of updating, their codes to align with state legislation.
