The Land Use bills are here! This is what we've been building toward for years!
Colorado has the chance to have the best housing policy in the nation, but opponents will be showing up in force on Thursday to block progress. This Senate committee hearing is the most important time for us to show up in support!
We need your voice to reach the committee. Can you join us?
- BEST OPTION: Join us at the Capitol on Thursday, 4/6, to testify in person! We're bringing food for a long day! Can you make it? Sign up here!
- SECOND BEST: Can you testify remotely by Zoom? Sign up here!
- DISTANT THIRD: Can't do either of the above? A written comment still helps! Follow instructions below.
Written Testimony Instructions
- Write your statement with help in the "How to write your testimony" section below!
- Visit this link
- Answer "How do you wish to testify?" with "Submit Written Testimony"
- Select "By Committee and Hearing Item"
- Select Committee: Senate Local Government and Housing
- Select Meeting Date and Time: 4/6/2023 Upon Adjournment
- Select Hearing Item: SB23-213 Land Use [Moreno, Jodeh, Woodrow]
- Enter your personal details, then either copy your statement into the text box or upload a file with your statement. Don't forget to hit submit!
How to write your testimony
To start, let's talk length!
- If you are speaking in person or remotely, you'll have two minutes of time. That's about 200-300 words for the average person.
- If you are writing your testimony, any length is fine, but keep it concise! Although there's a lot to love here, it's better to be brief and focused than to list every reason you think it's excellent.
We recommend you share your housing story. Why are one or more of the provisions of this bill important to you? A story is better than statistics!
Do you think the bill should be stronger somewhere? Is the timeline too long? Are sixplexes not big enough? Say so!
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Stories - who are you?
- Are you an older couple looking to downsize while remaining in the neighborhood?
- Are you a service or civic professional trying to live in the city where you work?
- Are you a daily car commuter that would like to switch to public transport or biking if you could live nearer to a bus stop or train station?
- Are you an environmental scientist that can speak to the benefits through your expertise?
- Are you a renter priced out of the housing market who would be happy to live in a more affordable, smaller middle housing property if they were more available?
- Are you a parent with college-aged kids who can't build an ADU for your children, or parents, to move home with you?
- Are you a grandparent looking to be closer to your children/grandchildren, but can’t downsize near children, and your children can’t move to you because you're too far from work, school, and other key locations?
Why will this bill help? What's your favorite provision?
- Allows for buildings that are more water-efficient and energy-efficient
- Preserves our natural resources by limiting sprawl into environmentally sensitive zones
- Reduces transportation emissions
- Ends housing bans that harken back to redlining and racial covenants
- Enhances livability and freedom of individuals to build
- Reduces government spending on unnecessary tape, more efficiently using our limited tax dollars
- Helps affordable housing providers stretch their limited subsidies to more homes
- Helps build homes for those that most rely on transit near transit
- Occupancy limits
- Anti-displacement and affordability provisions
- Local governments have had decades to demonstrate that they will resolve this regional, state, and national-scale crisis on their own, and have failed to do so
If you want some more detailed explanations, thumb through one of the great explainers from YIMBY Denver + YIMBY Fort Collins, the SouthWest Energy Efficiency Project, or the Natural Resources Defense Council.