Attachment B_AH Timeline

Updated 2.12.26

Attachment B: Timeline of City Affordable Housing Efforts 1966 • Boulder establishes the Housing Authority of the City of Boulder (AKA Boulder Housing Partners), which becomes the primary provider of subsidized housing for low- and very-low-income households, as well as special populations. 1973 • Adoption of a moderate-income housing annexation strategy. The policy requires all new residential developments seeking annexation or requesting an out-of-city utility permit to commit at least 15% of such units to be low- and moderately-priced housing units. 1975 • City begins receiving Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, which have been used to finance housing and community services projects for low-income persons, including the unhoused, older adults, and persons with disabilities. 1976 • City adopts a formal growth management plan with a limit on the number of housing permits issued each year. A merit system based on points determined which developments would receive the limited allocations. The provision of low- and moderate-income housing earned the applicant extra points. 1980 • Citizen initiative is passed in the city to impose rent control in existing buildings. In response, the Colorado State Legislature instituted a statewide rent control ban to ensure that no city or county in Colorado would, as a matter of law, be able to institute a rent control measure. 1982 • First Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Ordinance is adopted that allows a second unit to be constructed in single family homes within low density residential zone districts. The intent of the ordinance was to provide a broader mix of housing choices for various ages and incomes, while preserving single-family neighborhood character; reduce the number of illegal and unsafe rental units constructed; and offer homeowners a way to offset the increasing cost of living in the area.

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The growth management plan is reworked, now referred to as the Residential Growth Management System (RGMS). A 2% growth rate is set on residential building permits. Allocations for residential building permits are given out on a firstcome, first-served basis until the number of permits reach a trigger point. Specific exemptions to the allocation system are intended to incentive low- and middleincome housing, including low-income housing projects approved by the Housing Authority as well as the first 100 qualified moderate income rental units per year.

1985 • Moderate Income Housing Program (MIHP) is established, which is an inclusionary zoning program that required 15% of the total units in a project be sold to moderate income households. Prices were not limited, only the incomes of eligible buyers. Resale restrictions remained in place for a period of 10 to 20 years, at which point the homes could be sold as market rate homes. Developers could earn “credits” by building more than the required number of MIHP, and these credits could then be sold to other developers to help meet MIHP requirements. All these homes passed the period of affordability. • City adopts a Mobile Home (MH) zoning district. The new zoning district serves the dual purpose of guiding development of new mobile home parks and reducing the risk of redevelopment and displacement of residents. 1990 • Housing excise tax is adopted and levied on all new development on a per square foot basis. The excise tax establishes a source of funding to contribute to the provision of affordable housing. The funds are used to acquire, construct, or rehabilitate permanently affordable housing for households within 15% - 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) defined as the "working poor" within the adopted ordinance. 1991 • City convenes a working group to develop a new, affordable housing program. As a result, the mandatory MIHP is discontinued and replaced with the Community Housing Assistance Program (CHAP). CHAP served as a local housing trust fund to provide subsidy funds for developers to acquire and build permanently affordable housing in the community. The housing excise tax, along with property taxes for affordable housing, produced approximately $1M per year at that time and was used to fund housing for low income and special populations. The fund is still in place today and provides a simple, flexible, and locally administered funding source to increase the supply of affordable housing for working households.

1992 • City begins to receive federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds, a block grant for affordable housing. • The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) is updated to include a housing goal to have 5% of the total housing stock as permanently affordable to low-income households. 1993 • City’s First Home program is established. Initially, First Home was a shared equity loan program. The rapid increase in Boulder’s housing prices led to a concern that insufficient funds would be recaptured from the shared equity proceeds to enable the city to replace units on a 1:1 basis. This led to the program being changed to a down payment grant in exchange for permanent affordability. 1995 • The Residential Growth Management System (RGMS) revised to cut the growth rate to 1% and reduce the number of available allocations on an annual basis. The update divided the annual allocations into three categories: market rate, permanently affordable, and restricted. The exemptions to the allocation system are intended to incentivize the types of housing identified as the most needed in the community. The permanently affordable allocations were deed restricted units for low-income households and the restricted units were size restricted, owneroccupied units with initial prices set to be affordable to middle income households but with no ongoing resale or income restrictions. Projects which included at least 20% permanently affordable and 35% restricted units were able to receive the required RGMS allocations faster than those projects that contained market rate units exclusively. The policy objective was to ensure that new residential growth helped to meet the city’s affordable housing goals. This was still a voluntary system. Given Boulder’s rapidly escalating land values, it made more sense for someone to wait for an allocation for a market rate unit rather than produce an affordable unit. • The Major Site Review process was established as part of the discretionary land use review process, which gave priority consideration to residential projects that contained at least 20% permanently affordable and 35% restricted units. 1996 • The city’s first cooperative housing (co-op) ordinance is adopted. Cooperative housing is a form of intentional housing where unrelated individuals choose to share a dwelling unit and where each family or individual has rights commensurate with ownership. No co-ops were created under these strict code provisions.

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City began administering a down payment assistance program. The purpose of the down payment program was to provide gap financing to make up the difference between what the purchaser can afford as a down payment and the amount needed to make the financing work for the purchaser. City requires that all units assisted through the Housing Fund Program remain permanently affordable in perpetuity.

1997 • City establishes its first cash-in-lieu option for developers of projects that were in progress at the time the new RGMS was adopted. Approximately $1.3M was generated from this option. These funds were used for low and moderate-income housing projects. • The housing policies of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan were amended to reflect the city’s goals for maintaining existing and integrating new affordable housing throughout the community and establishing the goal to have at least 10% of the total housing stock be permanently affordable to low and moderate-income households. 1998 • The city begins work on the Comprehensive Housing Strategy. The Strategy, accepted by Council in 2000, is organized around five themes: managing density and growth; strengthening partnerships; holding and gaining ground on support for low and very low-income households; keeping moderate income workers in Boulder; and helping special populations and seniors. The Housing Strategy included the objective of reaching the goal to have 10% of the total housing stock as permanently affordable within 10 years. • City voters voted to increase the housing excise tax and to waive the development excise tax on permanently affordable housing projects. 2000 • The House to Homeownership (H2O) Program is launched offering a shared appreciation loan program that provides first-time homebuyers with a loan of up to $50,000 on a market rate home. There are no resale restrictions on homes purchased with H2O loans. • The city’s Housing Division establishes an Asset Management Program to ensure that the affordability requirements of all the city’s affordable rental and homeownership units are met. This includes annual monitoring of permanently affordable rental units and an annual letter sent to permanently affordable homeowners to remind them of the program’s requirements. The city also begins to expand its homeownership assistance program for moderate income households.

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City adopts the Inclusionary Zoning program. The Inclusionary Zoning program requires that 20% of all new residential development is permanently affordable for low and moderate-income households. The program provides options for meeting the Inclusionary Zoning requirement, including the option of paying a cash-in-lieu amount for the required permanently affordable units. Cash-in-lieu funds are combined with other city housing funds and used to rehabilitate existing affordable units, acquire market rate units and convert them to permanently affordable units, as well as construct new permanently affordable units. The Residential Growth Management System (RGMS) is amended to remove the affordable housing components added in 1995. At the time the growth management system, as well as annexation policy, were the only methods of securing some affordable housing through development projects. However, the adoption of the Inclusionary Zoning program described above allowed the city to achieve the goal of affordable housing in a less cumbersome, more direct way than through growth management limitations. Additional exemptions were added to growth management allocations, including mixed-use developments, developments with a significant portion of affordable housing. These were housing types that the city, as a matter of policy, desired to encourage. The memo sent to City Council stated that this change “would have the effect of permitting more residential construction, more quickly” than the previous growth management system. Manufactured Housing Land Use and Policy adopted as part of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update. A policy titled Preservation and Development of Manufactured Housing is adopted and the Manufactured Housing (MH) land use category is established. The new policy recognizes the importance of manufactured housing as an option for many households and commits to preserving mobile home parks, developing new ones, increasing opportunities for resident ownership, addressing health and safety concerns in these communities, and helping to mitigate for the loss of housing through support for rehousing.

2004 • The Residential Growth Management System (RGMS) is amended to add an exemption for land that has been rezoned from non-residential zoning district to a residential zoning district. The update was made in response to blanket rezonings done by the city to implement updates made to the comprehensive plan, including the rezoning of the 28th Street frontage road to high density residential zoning. 2006 • The city forms a Regional HOME Consortium with Boulder County, the City of Longmont and the City and County of Broomfield. The Consortium has increased

locally controlled funding for affordable housing and formed collaborative partnerships to address affordable housing concerns in the region. 2007 • The Boulder County Homeownership Consortium and its sponsors support the Boulder County Housing Authority’s HUD-approved Housing Counseling Program. The cities of Boulder and Longmont provide the program with financial support. Thistle Community Housing provides valuable in-kind training support through the NeighborWorks Training Institute. 2008 • The city initiates the Affordable Housing Program Review which consists of three phases: Council reaffirmed the existing goal to have 10% of the city’s housing be permanently affordable including the income targets and homeownership rental mix. It included the removal of the goal for some percentage to be acquired through acquisition and some through new development and adopted an additional goal of 450 units affordable to middle income households. 2010 • A new Inclusionary Housing (IH) Ordinance was adopted that substantially reorganized the inclusionary zoning program adopted in 2000. The update modified the annual adjustment for cash-in-lieu methodology, applied IH requirements to redevelopment projects when the total number of redeveloped or newly constructed dwelling units equals five or more, and modified the land dedication option to clarify specific requirements for the dedicated land. • A community conversation commences to inform city housing goals and city efforts, known as Housing Boulder. The extensive public process was organized around five themes: 1) address housing as part of the Comprehensive Plan Update, 2) create a middle-income housing strategy, 3) preserve existing affordable housing, 4) achieve our 10% goal, and 5) explore projects, partnerships, governance. • Affordable housing linkage fees are adopted, which apply to non-residential development in the city. The funds are used offset the impacts of new developments in the city and are an important funding source for affordable housing. 2015 • City establishes stiff penalties for interference with the sale of pre-1976 mobile homes, disallowing excessive home upgrade requirements by a mobile home park owner and clarifying that tree maintenance is exclusive responsibility of the park owners. Council also commits to fund legal services for owners of mobile homes.

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Short-term home rentals (rented for 29 days or less at a time) are expressly permitted in the rental licensing code with specific regulations. The rental property must be the owner’s principal residence; principal residence is defined as the dwelling unit in which a person resides for more than one-half of the year. A Housing Boulder Toolkit of Housing Options was developed as a compilation of ideas to address Boulder’s housing challenges. The Housing Boulder community conversation was brought to a close and rather than adopt a full housing strategy, Council chose to identify approximately 20 work plan items known as the Housing Boulder Action Plan.

2016 • The Middle Income Housing Strategy was adopted creating community priorities for action and specific tools to help meet the adopted Housing Boulder goal to “Maintain the Middle.” While most of the strategy tools identified were implemented successfully, no additional funding was identified to make significant progress on the issue. • Affordable Housing Preservation Ordinance adopted, which was aimed at long-term preservation of affordable housing that would otherwise be lost over time. The ordinance enables permanently affordable properties to rebuild to the number of existing units in situations where zoning was changed after the property was built (legal nonconforming uses). • The Boulder County Regional Housing Partnership formed under the guidance of the Boulder County Consortium of Cities to help address the area’s escalating housing costs. The Partnership is steered by Boulder, Longmont, and Boulder County engaging housing, health, and human services experts and leaders from across the county. 2017 • The 2015 Major Update to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) strengthened housing policies and increased the 10% housing goal to 15% in part to address the need for middle income housing. Council also adopted specific policies related to achieving additional affordable housing when the city grants additional intensity, height, or any other benefit to a developer. • Cooperative housing regulations are substantially revised to facilitate the creation of new cooperative housing units and to legitimize existing illegal units. • Code changes made to support mobile home park residents, including the establishment of a homeowner’s right to privacy, prohibiting retaliation by the park owner, and mandating mediation. The regulations are intended to “level the playing field” between homeowners and park owners.

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Updates made to the Inclusionary Housing Program to create a middle-income requirement, incentivize on-site units, and create a new design review process. Housing excise tax is repealed and replaced with capital facility impact fee on all non-residential development. The city purchased the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park as part of the Ponderosa Community Stabilization Project, which aims to minimize displacement, preserve long-term affordability, replace outdated infrastructure, reduce flood risk to the community and introduce new energy-efficient affordable housing options. The Regional Housing Partnership launched the Home Wanted campaign to raise community support for strategies, policies, and additional funding to create stable, affordable housing for low- to middle- income residents. The Regional Housing Partnership, with approval from all county jurisdictions, set an ambitious goal to ensure that 12% of all housing is permanently affordable to low- to middle-income earners by 2035.

2018 • ADU regulations significantly revised to increase the maximum saturation of ADUs allowed in a neighborhood area, increase the zones where allowed, loosen parking requirements, create exemptions for historic properties, and establish an affordable ADU option in exchange for not providing off-street parking or a larger ADU. Newly created accessory units are unable to be used as short-term rentals. More ADUs are created in Boulder in 5 years after adoption than in the 40 years prior. • Affordable housing impact fees increased on non-residential development. Fees for some new commercial development are among the highest in the country and provide important additional funding for affordable housing. 2019 • Manufactured Housing Strategy and Action Plan adopted, which frames the city’s approach to and understanding of Mobile Home Communities in Boulder into the future. The strategy and action plan encourages the preservation of existing mobile home parks and the development of resident-owned parks. • Community Benefit program was established in land use code elated to building height regulations. Typically, an increased number of on-site permanently affordable housing units or an increased in lieu fee is achieved on sites where buildings are permitted above zoning district height limits for four and five story buildings 2020 • Ordinance 8412 approved to support eviction prevention services. Excise tax was approved on dwelling units with rental licenses to be used to fund legal

representation for persons facing eviction proceedings and for rental assistance for persons that may be facing an eviction or need emergency rental assistance. 2022 • The House to Homeownership (H2O) shared appreciation loan program increased the amount available to first-time homebuyers from $50,000 to $100,000 to purchase a market rate home and the eligibility level was raised from households earning 80% AMI to 120% AMI. 2023 • City launches a new down payment assistance program to support buyers in becoming homeowners, which builds equity and wealth. The Middle Income Down Payment Assistance Program (DPA) offers middle-income households a zerointerest second mortgage up to $200,000 or 30% of the home’s sale price, whichever is less. In exchange for this assistance, the home becomes permanently affordable. • ADU regulations updated by eliminating the saturation limits in the RL-1 and RL-2 zoning districts, increasing the allowable size of ADUs, clarifying and simplifying the code, and improving the approval process. • Land Use Code revised to provide flexibility for a wider range of affordable and attainable housing types. The ordinance removes barriers, allows more housing units in some areas, enables smaller homes, and encourages a greater diversity of housing types. • Inclusionary Housing program updated and modernized. Specifically, the cash-inlieu (CIL) methodology was adjusted to a per square foot amount, resulting in a fair burden across different sized units. Affordable rents were modified to achieve more diverse and deeper affordability. Ineffective incentives for middle-income adopted in 2017 were removed and the pricing for ownership units was modified to allow middle-income units. • Boulder County voters approved an extension of an existing sales and use tax named the Affordable and Attainable Housing Tax. It will continue for 15 years to fund affordable housing and related services across Boulder County. The tax proposal was the direct result of work by the Regional Housing Partnership.

2024 • An affordable housing modular factory (BoulderMOD) is completed as part of a partnership between the city, Boulder Valley School District and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity. The purpose of the facility is to produce affordable homeownership opportunities while providing workforce training for high school students.

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City removes its residential growth management system, which previously limited the number of residential building permits per year in response to a 2023 state bill that prohibited such restrictions. The City of Boulder and several of the region’s jurisdictions establish a regional homeownership and rental compliance program administered by City of Boulder staff in the Department of Housing and Human Services.

2025 • ADU regulations updated to come in compliance with state law. The updates included the removal of parking minimums, allowances in more zoning districts, removal of minimum lot size requirements, removal of owner occupancy requirements, removal of open space requirements, and removal of specific design requirements. The review process of ADUs is streamlined and simplified. • Family-Friendly Vibrant Neighborhood project results in land use code updates to allow more missing middle housing (e.g., duplexes, triplexes, etc.) and removing additional zoning related barriers to housing. The intent of the code changes is to provide more housing options and price points beyond large, detached dwelling units or apartment/condominium buildings. • Residential occupancy limits removed from the land use code in response to newly enacted state law. • Affordable housing impact fee adopted on single unit replacement homes and substantial additions, increasing the funds available for affordable housing development. • First BoulderMOD duplexes placed on permanent foundations in the Ponderosa community. • The city was awarded its first funding opportunities from Proposition 123 through two initiatives aimed to expand affordable homeownership opportunities: the Mobile Home Repair and Replacement Program and the Regional Scattered Site Acquisition and Rehab program.