Bridging the Divide

Strategy 1: Start With Good Data

Already have an HNA? If completed within last 3-5 years, check with DOLA if it meets SB 174 requirements—you may only need minor updates. Skip to Strategy #2 (regulations audit) and Strategy #3 (partnerships), then start your Housing Action Plan (due January 1, 2028).

What's a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA)?

Your HNA is your community's complete housing story—unique to you. It's not just a number ("we need X units"). It's a holistic picture of both your built environment AND your social fabric:

• Who lives and works in your community? What do they earn?
• What housing exists today? What condition is it in?
• Where is the market providing housing? Where is it failing?
• What are your development opportunities and constraints?
• What do employers, residents, and stakeholders say they need?

The HNA evaluates demographics, economic trends, housing inventory, market conditions, and community input to identify where housing is working and where it's not. It's your foundation—the story that drives everything else.

Important: An HNA is an informational tool. The state requires you to complete one, but it does NOT require you to build a certain number of units. The HNA tells your story; YOUR Housing Action Plan decides how you respond based on your community's unique constraints, resources, and capacity.

Why This Matters

• It's the foundation for your Housing Action Plan (required by SB 174)
• It tells YOUR story, not a cookie-cutter template
• Qualifies you for state grant programs and Prop 123 funding
• Gives you data to counter "I think" with "here's what we know"
• Captures both built environment (units, infrastructure) AND social context (who, why, what's missing)

Never done one before? You're not alone. Most Western Slope communities are starting from scratch. DOLA provides grants AND free technical assistance to help.

Regional or Local HNA—Which is right for you?

• Regional HNA: Partner with neighboring communities to share costs, data, and consultant expertise. Good for smaller towns with limited staff capacity or shared housing markets (commuter sheds, regional employers).
• Local HNA: Deep dive specific to your community. Better for larger towns or those with unique housing markets distinct from neighbors.
• Ask yourself: Do workers live in one town and commute to another? Do you share employers, schools, services? If yes, consider regional.

Strategy 2: Audit Your Regulations

Your local regulations—zoning, fees, processing timelines, density limits, parking requirements—often add 20–40% to housing costs. This strategy doesn't require hiring consultants. It's your planning staff (or council members) reading your own code and identifying where regulations are making housing unnecessarily expensive or impossible to build.

Why This Matters

Developers can't profit on affordable units if regulations force them to spend $50,000 more per unit on parking, require them to spread thin over undersized lots, or stretch permitting across 18 months. Your regulations might be unintentionally blocking exactly the housing type you need. The good news: many barriers are easy to fix with no cost to your community.

What "Audit" Means

Pull your zoning code and ask: Where are we allowing density? Where are we requiring parking we don't need? Are single-family zones completely off-limits for duplexes or accessory dwelling units? What fees do we charge? How long does permitting take? Are there alternative processes (fast-track) for certain project types? You're not rewriting your entire code—you're mapping where regulations help or hinder housing.

QUICK WINS (easiest regulatory changes)

• Allow ADUs by-right (Accessory Dwelling Units = "granny flats," in-law apartments above garages)
  • NEW: DLG ADU Grant Program - ~$1.6M available to help communities develop pre-approved ADU plans, provide technical assistance to homeowners, and offset fees. Requires 25% local match. More info: dlg.colorado.gov/accessory-dwelling-unit-grant-program
• Establish density bonuses (let developers build more units if some are affordable)
• Create 90-day fast-track permitting for affordable housing (required for Prop 123 funding)
  • You control the thresholds: Set income levels that work for YOUR community (60% AMI? 80% AMI? 120% AMI?)
  • Don't stop at fast-track alone: Stack incentives to make projects pencil - combine fast-track + density bonuses + fee waivers + public land
  • Run the numbers: Use developer economics (like Slide 6 example) to ensure projects work for developers AND benefit your community
  • Key insight: Fast-track saves developers time/money, but it's the COMBINATION of tools that makes affordable housing financially viable

Strategy 3: Leverage Partnerships & Funding

You don't have to build it yourself. Most Western Slope communities partner with developers, nonprofits, or regional housing authorities. You provide land, fee waivers, or streamlined permits—they provide expertise and capital.

FUNDING SOURCES TO EXPLORE

• Proposition 123: ~$300M statewide, competitive (requires fast-track process)
• DLG Grant Programs: Housing Planning (~$9.9M), ADU (~$1.6M), Planning Capacity (~$6M/year) - see Essential Resources for details
• DOLA: Colorado Dept of Local Affairs—grants and technical assistance
• CHFA: Colorado Housing & Finance Authority—loans, gap financing, and Middle-Income Housing Tax Credits
• Colorado MIHA: Middle Income Housing Authority—serves 80-120% AMI workforce (teachers, nurses, public safety)
• USDA Rural Development: Grants and loans (communities under 20,000 population)
• Federal HOME funds: Administered through state/county

Strategy 4: Model the Impacts

Understand trade-offs BEFORE you commit. Use data to show stakeholders what different housing scenarios mean for your community. Start with specific questions you want answered:

This approach turns modeling from data collection into answered questions. Frisco started here, then commissioned economic impact analysis to answer them.

WANT CUSTOM MODELING? The Lake City simulator is educational. For actual planning decisions, consider commissioning economic impact modeling (like Frisco's IMPLAN analysis) or a custom simulator with YOUR community's real data.

KEY INSIGHT: Frisco's modeling showed NET POSITIVE tax revenues and economic impact across all scenarios—data counters assumptions and changes conversations.

NEXT STEP: Once you have impact data, Strategy #5 shows you how to use it to facilitate informed community decision-making.

Strategy 5: Make Trade-Offs Transparent

You've modeled the impacts (Strategy #4). Now help your community understand them and face the tough choices honestly.

CONVERSATION SHIFTER: Change from "Should we?" to "What mix works for us?"

Strategy 6: Set Goals & Adopt Your Housing Action Plan

You've modeled impacts and engaged your community (Strategies #4 and #5). Now translate those conversations into actual Housing Action Plan targets, write the plan, and get it adopted.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: With an adopted HAP, you're ready to EXECUTE Strategies #2 and #3 (regulatory changes and partnerships), deploy resources, and compete for Prop 123 funding. The HAP is your implementation roadmap for the next decade.