A proposal to boost regional collaboration and state leadership on efforts to reduce homelessness is moving through the Colorado legislature after a similar measure failed last year.
The bill, House Bill 26-1202, would help neighboring communities coordinate strategies with each other and lay the groundwork for a comprehensive state-level approach to homelessness, two policies that advocates for the unhoused have long said are needed to tackle the issue across Colorado.
The most significant provision in the bill would, starting in August, let any combination of local governments come together to form political subdivisions called multijurisdictional homelessness response authorities that would be tasked with preventing and reducing homelessness within the borders of all the participating communities.
"Homelessness doesn't just exist in a silo of a specific city and so it shouldn't be addressed on just a patchwork basis," said Democratic State Rep. Manny Rutinel of Commerce City, sponsor of House Bill 1202 who is also running for Congress in Colorado's 8th District. "Folks from across different cities and localities should be able to come together, pool their resources, pool their expertise."
An authority would be able to levy taxes through its participating local governments, but only if the participating local governments choose to give it that power in their initial agreement and if it gets approval from the voters of each local government first.
The measure also seeks to create some new funding to support local efforts to address homelessness. It would allow counties to use a portion of the revenue collected from real estate document filing fees to help develop, preserve or acquire affordable housing for unhoused individuals, but only after administrative costs are covered.
The final piece of the bill would direct the Department of Local Affairs to put together a statewide homelessness prevention and reduction prevention plan, including a timeline, budget, and an implementation process. The agency would present the proposal when the 2027 legislative session begins next January.
"We have to have a coherent strategy," said Democratic State Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder, another sponsor of House Bill 1202. "There isn't just one thing that will fix this problem. It is about housing prices, but it's also about addiction. It's also about mental health."
Amabile said the plan needs to include ways to expand resources and assistance for people who are unhoused because of mental health or addiction.
"I think we've done a pretty good job of saying we need to really create a lot more affordable housing, and we're trying to do that," said Amabile, whose own son has struggled with schizophrenia, substance use disorder and has been homeless. "But we haven't done nearly as effective a job at trying to help people who are sick and need health care and that their illness is leading to them being on the street."
The measure is based on an effort that failed last year.
Last year's bill would have created an interagency council on homelessness within the governor's office composed of representatives from eight state agencies, along with an advisory group made up of advocates and others with experience in homelessness prevention and reduction.
But the bill was rejected in its first legislative hearing. Rutinel, who was also a sponsor last year, said it failed in part because it required funding at a time when the state was facing a massive budget shortfall. This year, with lawmakers facing another dire budget situation, the interagency council and advisory group were not included and, without them, the measure doesn't require any funding.
Advocates for unhoused residents have been calling for a statewide homelessness strategy for years.
Cathy Alderman with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said that, although pockets of the state have implemented their own homelessness initiatives, the approach is scattered and disconnected.
"It's not working for local governments, and it's not working for communities that are seeing homelessness increase year over year," Alderman said. "The comprehensiveness of this bill is to say we need a statewide strategy so that local governments and service providers all know what the state's goals are and how they can participate in achieving those goals."
Alderman also said homelessness is not a one-size-fits-all problem across Colorado's diverse communities.
"Some parts of our state need to think about how homelessness exists in our state parks and national parks, and some of our areas of the state need to know what homelessness response looks like on the actual streets of the city or town," Alderman said.
House Bill 1202 has wide support from local governments. The Colorado Municipal League, which represents the state's towns and cities at the state Capitol, and Counties and Commissioners Acting Together, which includes counties and county commissioners from across the state, both testified in support of the measure.
But Republican lawmakers oppose it. Every GOP member of the Colorado House voted against the bill when the chamber considered it last month.
State Rep. Chris Richardson of Elbert County took issue with the provision that would allow documentary filing fee revenue to be used for affordable housing, which he said could amount to an improper use of revenue under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
"It essentially converts it into the use of a tax, and this raises a concern with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights," Richardson said. "Fees should be related to the services that they fund. And directly related, not loosely related."
The bill had near-unanimous support from House Democrats and passed the chamber. It now awaits consideration in the Senate.
Copyright 2026 KUNC
