Colorado faces a severe housing shortage. As a result, renters and home buyers face stiff competition for available homes. This drives up rent and home prices. The Centennial State needs to build between 105,000 and 180,000 homes to end its shortage. Based on population projections, this equates to building 34,000 homes every year over the next decade.
Right now, it isn't. Today, over half of Colorado renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. A quarter are severely cost-burdened. Teachers are commuting 90 minutes each way. Nurses and firefighters serve communities they can't afford to live in. The math isn't close.
But across Colorado, there's land sitting largely idle — school campuses, transit authority parcels, nonprofit-owned lots, university grounds — land that already exists in communities where people want to live, near jobs, near transit, and near services. The problem wasn't a lack of land, but a tangle of local zoning regulations that made housing nearly impossible to build.
On March 25, 2026, Governor Jared Polis signed the Housing Opportunities Made Easier (HOME) Act (HB26-1001) into law. For YIMBY Action chapters across Colorado and the coalition of partners who fought for this bill, it's a significant, hard-won step forward.
What the HOME Act Does
The HOME Act requires local governments in jurisdictions with populations over 2,000 to allow residential development on "qualifying properties" — parcels of five acres or less owned by school districts, institutions of higher education, housing authorities, transit districts, and nonprofits with a demonstrated history of providing affordable housing.
That's a meaningful list. These are exactly the kinds of mission-driven organizations that have both the land and the will to build homes, but have been blocked by discretionary local approval processes that are costly, slow, and unpredictable.
When the law takes effect on December 31, 2027, qualifying projects will have a faster, more predictable approval process. In place of discretionary proceedings, those projects will move through an administrative approval process that is, on average, 28 percent faster. Local governments will still enforce building codes, infrastructure standards, environmental regulations, impact fees, and inclusionary zoning requirements.
What local governments can no longer do is use height limits or unit counts to block these projects. That said, proposals must comply with some restrictions: They can be no more than three stories or 38 feet high, or comply with standards in adjacent residential zones — whichever is higher. They must also comply with site design standards — setbacks, parking, landscaping, and bedroom counts — that can be no more restrictive than those applied to similar housing elsewhere in the jurisdiction.
These projects are about more than housing—they're neighborhood anchors. For qualifying projects, the bill also requires local governments to allow accessory uses like child care and community services, when such uses are permitted in the underlying zoning district.
Why This Matters
The organizations this bill covers aren't outside actors trying to impose development on communities. They're rooted in them.
"The institutions this bill seeks to empower: schools, transit agencies, nonprofits, are all deeply rooted in place," said Kate Conley of YIMBY Action Fort Collins. "These organizations view providing homes and support in our communities as an important extension of their missions and values."
And the impact is concrete. At the bill signing, Eagle County School District Superintendent Philip Qualman noted that the law could help teachers and staff in their district save up to $1,500 a month in rent.
The Coalition That Made It Happen
Legislation like this doesn't pass on its own. The HOME Act moved through the General Assembly because a broad, sustained coalition showed up — in committee hearings, testimony, and outreach to legislators across both chambers.
That coalition was broad by design. Housing Forward Colorado and the Neighborhood Development Collaborative anchored the policy work. Centennial State Prosperity drove statewide organizing. Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, AARP Colorado, South West Energy Efficiency Project, Colorado Village Collaborative, and Launch Longmont Housing showed that this wasn't just a developer ask; it was a demand from unhoused Coloradans, seniors, transit riders, and community builders alike. YIMBY Action chapters in Denver, Fort Collins, North Metro, and Arvada made sure pro-housing grassroots voices were in the room from start to finish.
The bill's legislative champions — Representatives Andrew Boesenecker and Javier Mabrey, and Senators Tony Exum and Julie Gonzales — carried it through on close margins: 34-24 in the House and 22-13 in the Senate. Those margins reflect both the real opposition the bill faced and the strength of the coalition that carried it across the finish line.
What's Next
The HOME Act is a real win, but it is not the end of the game.
Colorado still needs to build tens of thousands of homes every year. The HOME Act will help qualifying nonprofit and institutional developers move faster — but only if they have the financing, capacity, and partners to act. YIMBY Action chapters in Colorado will be watching implementation closely, pushing for local governments to comply in good faith rather than slow-walking the administrative processes the law requires.
There are also outstanding questions. Legal challenges to state preemption of local land-use authority are already in motion elsewhere in Colorado: A pending lawsuit in the Denver District Court against separate state housing legislation signals that some municipalities won't accept these reforms without a fight. The HOME Act's supporters will need to stay engaged as that landscape develops.
And there's more to do legislatively. The HOME Act covers qualifying institutional and nonprofit properties, but it doesn't touch the broader zoning reform needed to make market-rate and affordable development pencil across Colorado's cities and towns. That work continues.
Governor Polis called for action in his 2026 State of the State address, and the legislature delivered. YIMBY Action chapters and their partners delivered the grassroots pressure that made it possible. Colorado families who can now live closer to the schools, transit lines, and nonprofits that employ and serve them will be the ones who benefit.
Want to get involved in Colorado's housing fight?
The HOME Act shows what's possible when local advocates organize and work together. If you want to help create more abundant housing, find your local YIMBY Action chapter to connect with advocates near you, or take the next step by becoming a YIMBY Action member and helping build the movement for more abundant housing.