Colorado § 29-35-209 - Displacement risk assessment - displacement mitigation strategies menu - displacement mitigation strategies menu goals - alternative displacement mitigation strategies.

§ 29-35-209. Displacement risk assessment - displacement mitigation strategies menu - displacement mitigation strategies menu goals - alternative displacement mitigation strategies.

(1) On or before June 30, 2025, the department shall conduct an assessment that includes recommendations identifying the resources necessary to implement the displacement mitigation strategies in the displacement risk mitigation strategies menu described in subsection (3) of this section. The assessment must identify:

(a) Appropriate local, regional, or nonprofit entities to assist residents at elevated risk of displacement, with a focus on residents in local governments that have a smaller population and fewer financial resources than other local governments within the same metropolitan planning organization; and

(b) Appropriate sources of financial and other resources to implement the displacement mitigation strategies in the displacement risk mitigation strategies menu described in subsection (3) of this section, while taking into account regional disparities in resources.

(2) (a) No later than June 30, 2025, the department shall develop guidance for transit-oriented communities in conducting a displacement risk assessment and implementing displacement mitigation strategies. The department shall update this guidance as necessary.

(b) In creating guidance for the displacement risk assessment described in subsection (2)(a) of this section, the department shall develop a methodology, with variations for different local contexts including the size and resource levels of local governments, for transit-oriented communities within metropolitan planning organization boundaries to use to:

(I) Gather feedback through community engagement; and

(II) Identify information from neighborhood-level early displacement warning and response systems, or if those systems are unavailable, identify the best available local, regional, state, or federal data that can be analyzed to identify residents at elevated displacement risk, which may include:

(A) The percentage of households that are extremely low-income, very low-income, and low-income, as designated by the United States department of housing and urban development;

(B) The percentage of households that are renters;

(C) The percentage of cost-burdened households, defined as households that spend more than thirty percent of the household's income on housing needs;

(D) The number of adults who are twenty-five years of age or older and have not earned at least a high school diploma;

(E) The percentage of households in which English is not the primary spoken language;

(F) The percentage of housing stock built prior to 1970;

(G) The location of manufactured home parks;

(H) Areas that qualify as disadvantaged as determined with the climate and economic justice screening tool developed by the council on environmental quality in the office of the president of the United States; and

(I) The transit-oriented communities where increases in zoning capacity will occur as a result of the requirements of this part 2.

(3) On or before June 30, 2025, the department shall develop a long-term displacement mitigation strategies menu that includes the following strategies:

(a) Developing a program to offer technical assistance and financial support for community organizations to develop independent community land trusts;

(b) Prioritizing spending on regulated affordable housing unit preservation or implementing or continuing deed restrictions for regulated affordable housing units;

(c) Providing homestead tax exemptions for either long-time homeowners in neighborhoods that a displacement risk assessment identifies as vulnerable to displacement or low- to moderate-income homeowners within, or within one-half mile of, a designated transit center;

(d) Requiring multifamily housing developers to create a community benefits agreement with affected populations within one-quarter mile of a development built in an area that is vulnerable to displacement;

(e) Ensuring no net loss within the designated area of affordable units such that affordability levels are equal or greater than existing levels of family serving units that include three or more bedrooms;

(f) Establishing a program to provide community or small local business investment in an area that is vulnerable to displacement; and

(g) Other strategies identified by the department that provide displacement mitigation equivalent to the other strategies described in this subsection (3).

(4) In developing the displacement risk mitigation strategies menu described in subsection (3) of this section, the department's goals must be to support:

(a) Resources, services, and investments that serve vulnerable homeowners and renters with elevated risk of displacement;

(b) The preservation of regulated affordable housing stock;

(c) Local government planning and land use decisions that incorporate inclusive and equitable displacement mitigation strategies, and the empowerment of low-income persons and communities of color to participate in those decisions; and

(d) The ability of vulnerable residents to remain in or return to their neighborhoods or communities by accessing new affordable housing opportunities in their neighborhoods or communities.

Source: L. 2024: Entire article added (see the editor's note following the part 2 heading), (HB 24-1313), ch. 168, p. 862, § 1, effective May 13.