2026 Colorado Legislative Session Wins for Affordable Housing
The Yampa Valley Housing Authority’s Policy Team advocates for meaningful local, state, and federal housing policy and legislation. In the spring of 2026, during the second session of the 75th Colorado General Assembly, the team was busy advocating within the state legislature for the advancement of multiple bills that will have a direct impact on local residents. Two such bills, Protections for Mobile Home Park Residents (HB 26-1224) and the Affordable Home Ownership Program (SB 26-040), were strongly supported by YVHA Policy Team members, helping to advance their success passing into law.
House Bill 26-1224, Protections for Mobile Home Park Residents, builds upon the framework of the Colorado Mobile Home Park Act. For context, it’s important to consider mobile home parks within the local community. With the ever-escalating cost of homes in Routt County pushing our local workforce out, manufactured and mobile home parks are some of the few affordable neighborhoods remaining in Routt County. However, between 2010 and 2026, the quantity of manufactured homes in the county decreased by 41%, from 1,300 homes in 2010 to 765 at present. Taking all of this into account, and to avoid redevelopment and displacement of residents, YVHA has purchased two local mobile home parks over the past two decades – Fish Creek (2007) and Whitehaven (2022). The Whitehaven purchase occurred when residents were notified that a third-party offer had been made to buy the park. Fearing displacement, residents assigned their purchase right to YVHA under the CO Mobile Home Park Act. YVHA and the residents mobilized quickly to leverage a combination of philanthropic donations and low-interest loans to acquire the park and preserve the affordable housing the park provides.
This year, the YVHA Policy Team established a goal to focus our state advocacy efforts on mobile home park preservation. In February, YVHA met with the Colorado Poverty Law Project to discuss the CPLP’s draft bill to strengthen mobile home park residents’ protections when parks are listed for sale. YVHA’s comments emphasized the need to improve seller disclosures and transparency, particularly related to infrastructure condition. Often, when residents receive a notice of intent to sell from the park owners, they are confronted with an outsized list price and little information to justify the price of the park (nor is there readily available information on deferred maintenance needs that could otherwise impact the park’s value). This lack of information makes the already daunting process of forming a resident cooperative, pulling together financing, and making an offer to purchase the park, even more challenging. Under HB-1224, landlords or park owners will be required to provide certain information upon tenant or homeowner request after issuing their notice of intent to sell, including:
- An explanation of the park’s selling price
- Disclosure of the age of the park’s infrastructure and any recent maintenance, inspections, or repair of infrastructure
- Rent data
- Recent expenses and income of the park
Daylighting this information should help level the playing field so resident cooperatives can exercise their opportunity to purchase the park when they receive a notice of intent to sell. HB 26-1224 was signed into law by Governor Polis on June 3rd, 2026, and will go into effect on January 1, 2027.
Another piece of legislation that involved YVHA Policy Team advocacy was SB 26-040, the Affordable Home Ownership Program – which revised certain guidelines within the state’s Proposition 123 (“Prop 123”) ballot measure (2022). Prop 123 dedicates a portion of existing state income tax revenue to build, fund, and preserve affordable housing, down payment assistance, and homelessness prevention programs. SB 26-040 increased income limits for some Prop 123 programs from 100% Area Median Income (AMI) to 120% AMI – allowing state funds to support more workers living in high-cost rural ski resort communities, where market-rate homes are generally unaffordable for middle-income households. The bill also adjusted the maximum debt-to-income ratio for Prop 123 down payment assistance loans, expanding eligibility for this program and unlocking zero-interest loans for current homebuyers (including several recent buyers at The Cottonwoods). Learn more about YVHA and partner down payment assistance programs linked here.
YVHA is grateful for the work of our state elected officials, including Representative Meghan Lukens and Senator Dylan Roberts, who work closely with their constituents to understand local housing challenges and how those challenges can be addressed through meaningful housing policy. The passage of these two bills is exemplary of the YVHA Policy Team’s advocacy on an elevated playing field to impact the situation for those seeking affordable housing opportunities in the Yampa Valley.
