Committee advances bill to create statewide homelessness strategy and let local governments form regional response authorities

Representative Scott Rudenow, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the committee HB 12‑02 was “deeply personal” and laid out a three‑part plan to strengthen Colorado’s response to homelessness: a DOLA proposal with timeline and budget, voluntary regional homelessness response authorities, and permissive use of existing documentary filing fees for affordable‑housing purposes.

“I'm the son of a single mom… I remember when my mom walked into the room, opened up an envelope that said that the bank was foreclosing on our home,” Rudenow said, framing the bill as a response to rising housing instability. He cited statistics in the hearing record: “A renter in this state needs to make around $65,000 a year just to afford a 1‑bedroom apartment,” and said “homelessness jumped 30 percent in 1 year.”

Co‑sponsor Representative Sirota said the measure is ‘‘simple and sensible,’’ emphasizing voluntary local collaboration and tools tailored to communities’ needs. Proponents from housing and service organizations urged the committee to approve the bill. Kathy Alderman of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said the bill aligns best practices statewide and will help localities coordinate services; Kinsey Hastad of Enterprise Community Partners and Brian Rossford of Housing Colorado made similar points about coordination, funding tools and operationalizing regional strategies.

Jason Hoffer testified in an amend position on behalf of the Realtors, supporting the bill’s intent but raising constitutional concerns about re‑directing documentary filing fees. “The documentary fee has long been structured as an administrative fee,” he said, arguing that using it for broader public programs can raise TABOR questions and that some changes to fee use should go to voters.

Representative Richardson offered an amendment (L002) to strike section 3, which would have removed the documentary‑fee permissive use; after debate that amendment failed on a roll call vote. A later technical amendment (L1) was offered and withdrawn.

Vice Chair Stewart moved to refer HB 12‑02 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; Representative Wynne seconded. The committee approved the referral 9–4. Yes votes included Representatives Basenecker, Jackson, Lindsay, Pascal, Phillips, Velasco, Wynne, Vice Chair Stewart and the chair; no votes included Brooks, Richardson, Sukhla and Weinberg.

What’s next: HB 12‑02 will go to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration; sponsors said DOLA will bring a proposal, timeline and budget as the next step.