Colorado lawmakers in the House and Senate have passed a bill that would outlaw cities like Boulder from imposing occupancy limits that restrict the number of unrelated people who can live together.
Proponents of the measure see it as a way to increase housing affordability by allowing people to share housing costs among more individuals. Opponents of the bill argue cities with loose local control will be negatively impacted.
Assuming House lawmakers sign off on amendments made in the Senate, the bill will head to the governor’s desk. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign it. In this year’s state of the state address, he advocated for “ending discriminatory occupancy limits that especially hurt renters.”
The Boulder City Council in August 2023 raised the city’s occupancy limits on how many unrelated people can live together from as few as three to five across much of the city.
All lawmakers representing the City of Boulder and Boulder County have voted in support of the bill. Organizers with the Bedroom Are For People campaign, which sought to raise the city’s occupancy limit through an unsuccessful ballot measure in 2021, have testified in support of the legislation. The City of Boulder has not taken a position on the bill, according to Carl Castillo, the city’s chief policy advisory.
Under the bill, cities would still be able to restrict the number of people who can live together based on “demonstrated health and safety standards, such as international building code standards, fire code regulations, or Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment wastewater and water quality standards.” The law would take effect in July 2024.
Would be nice if you would have added a link to the draft bill.
Wonderful news! Occupancy Limits create an artificial supply/demand imbalance, resulting in higher wealth for landowners and less places to live for the people who are doing the work. The only way to rectify injustice is on the state (or federal) level, as “local control” is how we have always justified maintaining privilege.
I hope the elimination of all parking mandates is next on the corrections list.
It’s exactly the opposite as Buzz says. The more occupants, the more income for the landlord, so the state is promoting more privilege for the landowners. What Buzz doesn’t seem to acknowledge is that this is an inelastic market. The state is increasing wealth inequity with this bill. Parking minimums reduction does the same thing.