Issue Position: Housing

Issue Position

It's no secret that housing costs have skyrocketed in Colorado, and as we grow, we need to take action to ensure good stock of affordable units, both apartments and single-family homes, and renters' rights that protect those of little means.

County and municipal governments have the biggest say in zoning and land use, and what sort of housing is developed in areas where the population is growing. So it's really important that when we get our ballots, we vote on what we value from the top of the ticket to the bottom. And that we also vote in municipal elections (which operate on a different schedule)!

COVID-19 has certainly opened a lot of people's eyes to a scary reality than many were already keenly aware of -- housing insecurity is not a fringe struggle. Far too many Coloradans are one bad month away from becoming unhoused, and we're all working and doing our best. And of course once someone becomes homeless, other problems begin to pile on that can't practically be solved until they are housed once again. At a legislative level, there is much more that we can do to level the power imbalance between property owners and the tenants who rent from them to keep a roof over their heads. It's not enough to recite the nice sounding phrase "We're all in this together" during the worst of the pandemic if we're not going to put it into practice when we make laws and set our state budget.

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