In This Section
Author: Meghan Dollar
March 29, 2022
HB22-1304, YOUR "YES" VOTE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTED
HB22-1304 provides crucial transformational funding that will move the shared goal of CML and our municipal members where community members can afford to stay in their community and live where they work.
What House Bill 22-1304 does
HB22-1304 creates two state grant programs. The local investments in transformational affordable housing grant program. The affordable housing grant program provides grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to enable such entities to make investments in their communities or regions of the state in transformational affordable housing and housing related matters.
The strong communities grant program provides grants to eligible local governments to enable local governments to invest in infill infrastructure projects that support affordable housing. The strong communities grant program portion of the bill requires a multi-agency group, comprised of DLG, the state energy office, and the department of transportation, with the assistance of stakeholders, to develop a list of sustainable land use best practices that will accomplish the goals of the grant program and improve a local government's viability in being considered for a grant award.
- When municipalities were asked to name the biggest challenges facing their municipalities over the next 5 years in a recent survey conducted by CML, 68% of respondents named housing affordability, the most frequent response given.
- A majority (63%) of municipalities feel housing supply and affordability issues have gotten somewhat or much worse over the past three years.
- In addition to grant opportunities, municipalities are in dire need of capacity building to access resources and increase housing supply.
With the creation of both programs, HB22-1304 provides crucial transformational funding that will move the shared goal of CML and our municipal members where community members can afford to stay in their community and live where they work.