Colorado’s Zoning Overhaul Is Finally Moving

Nora Whitman

So, the- the- the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, DOLA, just dropped their June 2026 update, and if you've been, uh, skeptical about whether state-level zoning overrides actually work in practice, you might want to look at these numbers. This is YIMBY News, brought to you by Jellypod AI. I'm Nora Whitman, and we are looking at a quiet, massive, administrative shift. Back in 2024, Colorado passed three massive housing bills: HB24-1152 for accessory dwelling units, HB24-1304 cutting parking minimums, and HB24-1313 on transit-oriented communities. But passing a bill is, you know, it's just words on paper. The real fight is in the municipal codes, and the state's carrot-and-stick approach is, well, it's actually getting cities to play ball.

Nora Whitman

Let's start with the ADU law, HB24-1152. DOLA's June 26th briefing shows that out of sixty-seven jurisdictions that are legally subject to these new accessory dwelling unit rules, eighty-two percent are actively updating their codes. We are talking about fifty-five percent of Colorado's entire population covered by these new local, compliant ADU rules. Now, uh, there's a financial carrot here that is driving a lot of this. DOLA has this supportive certification process. If a city gets its code certified as ADU-friendly, they unlock state grants. And Round 3 of that direct planning and infrastructure assistance, it opens up on August 1st, 2026. So cities are rushing to get their paperwork in order before that deadline.

Nora Whitman

Now, the parking minimum reform, HB24-1304, is where things get really interesting and, frankly, a bit complicated for developers. The law basically bans cities from forcing developers to build off-street parking near major transit corridors. But, there is a catch. There's a key exception. For projects with twenty or more units, or projects that are designated as affordable housing, cities can still require up to one parking stall per unit. But here's the kicker: if a city wants to invoke that one-stall-per-unit rule, they have to publicly justify it. They can't just make it a blanket default. So, we're seeing this tension where developers are trying to design around that twenty-unit threshold to avoid the parking mandate entirely, while cities are trying to find ways to trigger that public justification process to keep some parking in place.

Nora Whitman

Then we have the Transit-Oriented Communities program, HB24-1313. This is the big one. It targets density of fifteen to forty units per acre near transit hubs. The ultimate deadline for cities to submit their final Housing Opportunity Goal reports, the HOG reports, is December 31st, 2026. Right now, DOLA is reporting seventy percent compliance on the preliminary benchmarks. And four major cities have already gone all the way and achieved full compliance certification: Denver, Fort Collins, Wheat Ridge, and Longmont. They've essentially re-mapped their transit corridors to allow this density by-right. It's a huge milestone, but the real test is going to be those remaining thirty percent of cities that are still lagging as we head toward the winter deadline.

Nora Whitman

Alright, let's pivot to some quick hits. First, looking west to California. Tomorrow, July 1st, 2026, SB 79 officially goes into effect. This is the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, and it is sending shockwaves through local planning departments. In Los Angeles, city officials are scram- scrambling to implement their own local Low-Rise and Phased Implementation Ordinances. Why? Because if they don't have their own compliant local codes active, the state's much stricter default density rules take over. It's the ultimate regulatory gun to the head, and LA is running out of hours to retain local control.

Nora Whitman

Meanwhile, on the federal level, the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is sitting on the president's desk. It passed congress with a landslide bipartisan majority in late June, and we are currently in that ten-day presidential signing window. If signed, it could unleash a whole new wave of federal incentives for local zoning reform. That is the state of housing play. I'm Nora Whitman, and this was YIMBY News. Talk soon.