Bill Tracker

Bill was signed by the Governor on March 20 and takes effect on December 1, 2020.

The League promotes social and economic justice, and supports measures that strengthen procedures so that equality of opportunity for access to housing can be accomplished.

This bill suppresses eviction records from public access to allow people to defend their rights without fear of creating a court record. Because a record is produced when an eviction is filed in court, the threat of filing an eviction discourages tenants from defending their rights. Currently, court records can be used in tenant screening to deny housing, even when an eviction case was dismissed for being unfounded or retaliatory.

Suppression of records related to an eviction proceeding or an action for termination of a mobile home park tenancy until a judgment of possession against the tenant will protect tenants while a case is pending. An eviction filing is not the same as an eviction, may not accurately reflect a tenant’s history, and should not be used to deny someone housing.

There was no testimony in opposition to this bill during the House Judiciary Committee hearing. The sponsors have gained stakeholder support including the Colorado Apartment Association and affiliates. The bill unanimously passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Senate floor with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The fiscal note states that no appropriation is required for this bill.

The League supports access to safe and stable housing for people with behavioral health challenges, including those who are chronically homeless, and effective re-entry planning and follow-up for people released from the criminal justice system.

Colorado has a homelessness crisis, with over 10,000 persons experiencing homelessness in our state. Reasons behind this crisis are a combination of rising housing costs, increased behavioral health needs, underfunded re-entry programs, and the lack of an adequately funded, statewide supportive housing infrastructure.

Housing programs can reduce the cycling of offenders between prison, jail, homeless shelters, and other public services. Supportive housing is defined as combining affordable housing with access to supportive services. Through these additional supportive services, participants gain the opportunity to live stable, productive, and fulfilling lives.

This bill incorporates recommendations of the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems (MHDCJS) Housing Subcommittee. It builds the capacity of Colorado communities to provide supportive housing services to individuals with behavioral health disorders and who have been involved in the criminal or juvenile justice systems who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. It provides statewide solutions that prioritize rural and frontier communities that lack the infrastructure to access housing dollars, resources to establish housing navigators, and local expertise to employ promising practices. These communities also lack funding for supportive services necessary to ensure housing stability that ends the cycles of homelessness and incarceration. This bill fosters and funds supportive housing opportunities and builds capacity through training and technical assistance, seed money, direct funding for program development and technical assistance during implementation.

For FY 2020-21, this bill requires an appropriation of $3,612,047 to multiple state agencies. Department of Corrections (DOC) data show that supportive intervention costs are much less than costs associated with homelessness or incarceration. For example, for 572 individuals released from DOC with behavioral health issues in FY2018, supportive housing services would save the state almost $29M in homelessness costs (a savings of about $50K per person) and about $12M in incarceration costs (a savings of about $21K per person).

This bill updates language in the "Colorado Homeless Youth Services Act" and establishes the services for youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness grant program (grant program) in the department of local affairs (department).  The age requirement for such youth is increased to 24 years of age or younger from more than 11 years of age to less than 21 years of age.  The department shall promulgate rules concerning the grant program, and the office of homeless youth services shall administer and monitor the grant program.

The grant program consists of up to 5 awards of up to $250,000 each awarded on or before January 1, 2021.  Grant awards may only be awarded to existing providers of services to youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, with priority given to those service providers that can expand services to underserved areas of the state, including street and community outreach, drop-in centers. emergency shelters, and supportive housing and transitional living programs.

The bill requires the department to prepare and submit a report to the appropriate committees of the general assembly on the outcomes of the grant program.

2/26/20: Postponed indefinitely in House Business Affairs and Labor Committee

The League supports policies to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family, while protecting the rights of both tenants and landlords.

One in four Colorado renters spends more than 50% of their income on housing. This financial burden is exacerbated by a variety of residential fees, including rental late fees. As a result, many renters who are struggling to pay for these fees find themselves in a cycle of debt, and in the worst case, faced with eviction and the threat of losing their home. This bill establishes rules regarding late fees charged to tenants or mobile home owners by landlords and limits the amount of fees a landlord can charge. It also prohibits a landlord from initiating eviction procedures on the sole basis of failure to pay late fees, while still allowing a landlord to recover late fees.

This bill would not prevent landlords from charging fees, it simply places reasonable limitations on fees. Currently, there are no limitations on late fees, and tenants have few remedies when unreasonable fees are charged or when fees are added outside of the lease. This bill would provide statewide consistency and parity. It promotes transparency and requires the disclosure of late fees in leases. Because this bill prohibits a landlord from initiating eviction procedures solely due to failure to pay late fees, it could help mitigate evictions and displacement in Colorado. Eviction rates are rising as wages remain relatively stagnant and housing costs continue to increase. The study Facing Eviction Alone: A Study of Evictions in Denver 2014-2016 (https://cclponline.org/resource/facing-eviction-alone/) states that, “Evictions can lead to unnecessary displacement, increased financial insecurity, and transitional or long-term homelessness.” They found that, “In the majority of cases that were reviewed, the landlord alleged an amount of overdue rent owed by the tenant.”

The League supports equality of opportunity for housing for all persons in the United States and policies to provide a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.

Colorado’s housing crisis impacts both rural and urban towns, and preservation of mobile/manufactured homes is important to address Colorado’s affordable-housing needs. Effective oversight and enforcement of the Colorado Mobile Home Park Act can have significant positive impacts for manufactured home owners in Colorado. Approximately 100,000 Coloradans live in mobile/manufactured homes, which are Colorado’s largest source of unsubsidized, affordable housing. Generally, residents of mobile home parks own their homes but pay lot rent to park owners. It is often costly or logistically challenging or impossible to move the homes or find an alternative mobile home park. This business model creates economic vulnerability for the home owners, and fear of losing their home keeps many home owners silent about violations of the law. The Colorado Sun and partner news organizations across the state looked at mobile home parks (https://coloradosun.com/parked/). They found that the number of parks is declining, and ownership is consolidating as park owners sell out to large investors, which sometimes leads to displacement and redevelopment.

House Bill 1196 addresses several harms identified in the Department of Regulatory Agencies' 2018 Sunrise Review on Manufactured Housing. Their findings state that, “Clearly, harm is occurring in manufactured housing communities. Those instances of harm are not due to a lack of professional competence among manufactured housing community owners and managers. The harm largely stems from the lack of enforcement of existing laws, bad actors exploiting a relatively loose regulatory structure, and the inevitable tension that arises when the house belongs to one person but the land beneath it belongs to someone else.” Among other things, House Bill 1196 defines what constitutes retaliation, protects against arbitrary or unfair eviction, requires utility billing transparency, and increases home owner rights to privacy. No appropriation is required for this bill.

Bill passed on June 3 with a safety clause.

The League supports equality of opportunity for housing for all persons in the United States and policies to provide a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.

Colorado’s housing crisis impacts both rural and urban towns, and preservation of mobile/manufactured homes is important to address Colorado’s affordable-housing needs. Creation of opportunities for resident ownership can have significant positive impacts for manufactured home owners in Colorado. Approximately 100,000 Coloradans live in mobile/manufactured homes, which are Colorado’s largest source of unsubsidized, affordable housing. Generally, residents of mobile home parks own their homes but pay lot rent to park owners. It is often costly or logistically challenging or impossible to move the homes or find an alternative mobile home park. This business model creates economic vulnerability for the home owners, and fear of losing their home keeps many home owners silent about violations of the law. The Colorado Sun and partner news organizations across the state looked at mobile home parks (https://coloradosun.com/parked/). They found that the number of parks is declining, and ownership is consolidating as park owners sell out to large investors, which sometimes leads to displacement and redevelopment.

House Bill 1201 gives home owners, or an association representing a majority of home owners, the opportunity to make an offer to buy the park where they live if the landlord anticipates selling it or changing the use of the land. The bill provides for adequate transparency and notification of sale and requires good-faith negotiation. Resident ownership is a proven strategy. For example, Resident Owned Communities (ROC) USA states that, “roughly 1,000 communities or 2 percent of all manufactured (mobile) home communities are resident-owned…” (https://rocusa.org). No appropriation is required for this bill.

2/26/20: Postponed indefinitely in the House Transportation and Local Government Committee

This bill prohibits the state and any city, county, city and county, municipality, or other political subdivision (government entity) from restricting any person from:

     Conducting basic life functions in a public space unless the government entity can offer alternative adequate shelter to the person and the person denies the alternative adequate shelter; and

     Occupying a motor vehicle, provided that the motor vehicle is legally parked on public property or parked on private property with the permission of the property owner.

The League supports HB20-1332 because it provides equal opportunity for access to housing without discrimination and it helps to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.

HB20-1332 aims to make housing discrimination based on a person’s source of income an unfair housing practice. The source of income must be lawful and verifiable, including income from any lawful profession or occupation and from any government or private assistance, grant, or loan program. A landlord cannot refuse to rent or lease housing, refuse to show housing, refuse to transmit an offer to rent or lease, advertise that the rental or lease is limited based on source of income, or deny that housing is available in order to discriminate against someone based on their source of income.

“Source of income discrimination” refers to the practice of refusing to rent to a housing applicant because of that person’s lawful form of income. According to a 2018 survey of Colorado renters by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, 47% of respondents who had been rejected from housing indicated source of income discrimination as the reason. Often, the denial of housing disproportionately affects renters of color, women, and persons with disabilities.

Source of income discrimination is an enormous housing barrier for people who receive public or private housing assistance, such as income derived from Social Security, Housing Choice Vouchers/Section 8, pensions, annuities, state or federal disability programs or benefits, child support, alimony, foster care subsidies, disability or unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, and other government assistance. A 2019 report on Home Equity by the Colorado Health Institute shows a direct connection between housing instability and health. The report states that,” Laws or ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on source of income can ensure that housing subsidies are used effectively.”

The Colorado Civil Rights Division enforces the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which includes unfair housing practices. This bill includes some protections for landlords such that, if the initial payment is not made to the owner in a timely manner, the landlord may exercise any right or pursue any remedy available under law. Also, landlords with three or fewer units of housing for lease or rent are exempt from the bill's requirements. At least 16 other states have statutes that prohibit discrimination in the housing market based on source of income (Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2019).

5/27/20: Postponed indefinitely in the House Transportation and Local Government Committee

This bill repeals an existing income tax credit available to taxpayers who make contributions to enterprise zone administrators to promote temporary, emergency, or transitional housing programs for the homeless and replaces that income tax credit with one that is available in the entire state that is modeled after the enterprise zone administrators and the office of economic development manage the credit, the bill places that responsibility on the division of housing in the department of local affairs.  The amount of the income tax credit remains the same for each contribution, except the new credit is capped at $750,000 in contributions to each project that the division approves and the new credit's availability is limited to 5 years.

The League promotes social and economic justice and supports measures that strengthen procedures so that equality of opportunity for access to housing can be accomplished.

Last year the Colorado legislature passed SB19-180 that created the Eviction Legal Defense Fund (which the League supported). The Eviction Legal Defense Fund expands the availability of legal assistance to help indigent persons who are experiencing an eviction or are at immediate risk of an eviction. At present, funding for the Eviction Legal Defense Fund comes from the state’s General Fund. In 2019, $750,000 in general funds were provided.

This bill provides a new source of funding for the Eviction Legal Defense Fund by assessing an additional $30 fee on eviction filings, and this additional fee will be deposited into the Eviction Legal Defense Fund. This fee would increase the current eviction filing fee from $85 to $115. Research from 2017 showed that Colorado’s eviction filing fee amount was less than the national average of $118.

There is a disparity in the availability of legal counsel for low-income Americans. According to a study by Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Colorado Center on Law and Policy (https://cclponline.org/resource/facing-eviction-alone/), less than 1% of tenants in Denver County were represented by an attorney during an eviction, while nearly 90% of landlords were represented. Importantly, the tenants able to access an attorney were significantly more likely to remain in their homes. Legal counsel can be critical in facilitating a resolution that allows tenants to remain in their homes, arrange additional time to find another home, or keep a judgment off a tenant's record.

Maintaining funding for the Eviction Legal Defense Fund is particularly important as our state recovers from the COVID-19 economic crisis. With many Coloradans unemployed and struggling to afford expenses, this program helps tenants by providing counseling and representation, which can enable successful repayment agreements that benefit both landlords and tenants.

1/29/20: Postponed indefinitely in Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee

This bill specifies that for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2021, a senior is deemed to be a 10-year owner-occupier of a primary residence that the senior has owned and occupied for less than 10 years and therefore qualifies for the senior property tax exemption for the residence if:

     The senior would have qualified for the senior property tax exemption for the senior's former primary residence but for the fact that medical necessity required the senior to stop occupying the former primary residence;

     The senior has not previously received the exemption for a former primary residence on the basis of medical necessity; and

     The senior has not owned and occupied another primary residence since the senior first stopped occupying his or her former primary residence due to medical necessity.

"Medical necessity": is defined as a medical condition or a senior that a physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado has certified, on a form developed by the state property tax administrator, as having required the senior to stop occupying the senior's prior primary residence.

When applying for such an exemption, a senior must provide the form establishing proof of medical necessity.

Bill passed on June 3 and takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly.

The bill allows a homeless youth who is fifteen years of age or older (youth) to consent to receive shelter or shelter services from a licensed homeless youth shelter.  Upon receipt of such consent, a licensed homeless youth shelter is not required to notify the youth's parent or legal guardian or seek additional parental consent for shelter services.

5/27/20: Postponed indefinitely in House Business Affairs & Labor Committee

The League supports measures that provide equal opportunity for access to housing without discrimination and that ensure fair treatment under the law for all persons.

This bill creates the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act, prohibits a landlord from requiring, using or disclosing information regarding a tenant's citizenship or immigration status, and permits a tenant to bring civil action against a landlord for engaging in prohibited conduct. Immigration status is not a protected class under the Fair Housing Act or the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. However, protections apply regardless of immigration status (“any person”). State laws are needed to prevent discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status.

The requirement for immigration status information on a tenant application can lead to rejection of the application or harassment and intimidation of immigrant or undocumented tenants. Such actions can dissuade tenants from filing housing complaints or exercising their rights. Nothing in the bill prevents a landlord from conducting background and credit checks, requesting employment information, or collecting rent or late fees due under the lease agreement. The bill was amended so that a landlord that is also the tenant’s employer may lawfully collect information required to complete employment forms. The fiscal note states that no appropriation is required for this bill.