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Update: Since the drafting of this post, the below rules were approved and adopted. The final rules will take effect on April 10, 2019.

Homeowners operating short-term housing rentals in Denver will soon have a few more boxes to check prior to renting out their homes on popular hosting platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.

While operators of short-term rentals are already required to be licensed by the City and County of Denver, new rules regarding the operation of short-term rentals in Denver are expected to be enacted next month, according to the Department of Excise and Licenses.
Continue Reading New Rules Expected in February Impacting Denver Short-Term Rentals

Denver’s ban on source-of-income discrimination took effect on January 1, 2019.

The ordinance, which the Denver City Council approved back in August, prohibits a wide range of conduct in real estate transactions “based upon … source of income.”  Protected sources of income under the ordinance include government housing assistance, Social Security payments, veterans’ benefits, student loans, legal settlements, and court-ordered child support and alimony payments.  The income source must be both “lawful” and “verifiable” to be eligible for protection.  The new law applies to landlords, real estate agents, property managers, and mortgage lenders.  Property owners who rent a single unit are specifically exempt.
Continue Reading Denver Bans Source-of-Income Discrimination in Real Estate Transactions Beginning January 1

Denver released a public draft of a new Blueprint Denver on August 6. This marks the first wholesale revision to the citywide land use and transportation plan since the city adopted the first Blueprint Denver in 2002. The new Blueprint contains a serious (and for some, a welcome) departure from the first version of the plan, which has shaped the development of the city through tremendous growth over the last sixteen years.

A bit of background and context. Cities adopt long‑term plans that are supposed to guide subsequent decisions about land use policy and individual development applications. For example, a plan may say that the community values its open space. When the city receives an application to develop open space, the decision makers, be they the planning department, zoning commission, or city council, are supposed to consider the plan’s statement about open space in evaluating the development application.
Continue Reading Blueprint Denver 2.0: R.I.P. Areas of Stability

Late last week, the City and County of Denver sent letters to over 300 homeowners notifying them that they fail to comply with the City’s affordable housing standards. Many of those who received the letters had no idea their homes were subject to such standards in the first place.
Continue Reading Hundreds of Denver Homeowners Impacted by Previously Overlooked Affordable Housing Covenants

We’ll start in Boulder and with commercial development. In February, the Boulder City Council directed city staff to draft an ordinance that would raise the city’s affordable housing linkage fee on new commercial development from $12 per square foot to $25, $30, or $35 per square foot.  Boulder’s current $12 linkage fee is the highest such fee of any city in the country between the two coasts, with Palo Alto the highest in the country at $35.  Even so, City Council members expressed that the current fee is still low enough vis-a-vis fees on residential development to incentivize commercial development over residential development. And more commercial development without new housing only exacerbates the city’s acute jobs-housing disequilibrium. 
Continue Reading Boulder County Municipalities Look to Double Affordable Housing Linkage Fees