Colorado’s Housing Crisis: Lower Barriers, Raise Capability

“This isn’t about politics. This is about our kids, our teachers, our firefighters, our future. If we can’t house our people, we can’t have a working Colorado.” — Pat Hamill

Pat Hamill — the legendary Oakwood Homes founder and CEO who stepped away last year from the helm of one of the nation’s most iconic homebuilding companies— hasn’t left the building industry.

He’s just moved to a different front line: the policy battlefield.

Hamill’s mission is now public—and urgent. Through Housing Equity for Colorado (HEC), a new, nonpartisan leadership and advocacy initiative, he and a cohort of business, community, and civic leaders are aiming at the root causes of the state’s acute housing affordability crisis: restrictive land-use rules, slow and inconsistent permitting, and local regulatory systems that block new housing from happening at the scale Coloradans need.

Everything we care about—whether it’s education, jobs, transportation, or climate—connects back to whether people can afford to live in a community,” Hamill tells The Builder’s Daily. “We can’t keep asking families to commute two hours each way, or expect employers to attract talent when there’s nowhere nearby for workers to live.”

Housing Equity for Colorado has quietly built momentum behind the scenes since mid-2023, but its message is getting louder. This legislative session, the group is backing a package of state-level bills designed to streamline development, support attainable housing, and unlock more housing opportunity for middle-income Coloradans—teachers, firefighters, health aides, and others priced out of neighborhoods they serve.

Unlike past reform efforts that hit partisan dead-ends, this initiative is doing something rare: fusing bipartisan support, local government collaboration, and evidence-backed policy design, driven by data and modeling from respected research partners like the Common Sense Institute.

Hamill co-chairs HEC meetings with top Colorado state officials and private sector thought- and business leaders, teamed up with Jamie Van Leeuwen, Principal at Bucephalus, LLC and a longtime public sector leader under former Gov. John Hickenlooper—as well as Bill Ray, a veteran Colorado government affairs strategist and communications expert who’s helping guide legislative strategy.

The group’s agenda blends policy, politics, and storytelling.

People think this is just a ‘developer’ issue. It’s not,” says Van Leeuwen. “It’s about the nurse in Colorado Springs, the retiree in Greeley, the teacher in Denver—all the people we say we value, but who can’t find a home within reach.”

Recent polling by Public Opinion Strategies underscores this sentiment: 85% of Coloradans believe their state is in a housing affordability crisis, and more than 70% support state-level action to increase the supply of attainable homes.

One of the effort’s signature strengths may be its approach: building trust across political divides while grounding solutions in common-sense economics.

We’ve tried to avoid triggering the typical urban-rural, left-right conflicts,” says Ray. “Instead, we’re focused on making sure families have options and communities have a path to grow responsibly.”

The 2025 legislative package supported by HEC includes reforms like streamlining local zoning approvals, expanding by-right development in targeted areas, supporting accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and incentivizing workforce housing near jobs and transit. It also encourages local governments to adopt housing plans aligned with projected population and employment growth, tying funding to clear metrics.

Progress came just this past week:

The House today advanced a bill on a preliminary vote that would incentivize the development of condominium and townhome units to create more affordable housing options.

“Increasing rents and home prices have created a housing affordability crisis and have made it nearly impossible for first-time homebuyers to enter the market,” said Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster. “Home ownership means everything to people who want to build a better, more secure life and future for themselves and their families. By incentivizing high quality construction and creating a less expensive process to resolve construction defect claims, we’re creating a better environment for the construction of housing that has historically been more affordable.”

In a state where housing production has consistently lagged behind demand—by more than 100,000 homes over the past decade—these changes are positioned as critical infrastructure, not just policy tweaks.

Colorado is at an inflection point,” says Ray. “We can either double down on exclusionary systems that only work for the wealthy—or we can modernize and create a more resilient future for everyone.”

The coalition backing Housing Equity for Colorado is broad and growing. In addition to industry leaders, it includes local elected officials, school and healthcare advocates, housing experts, and small business owners. HEC’s website lists dozens of early backers, with more expected to go public in the coming weeks.

Its outcomes could influence how other states approach their own housing crises.

In the 2025 legislative session, momentum is building behind several key proposals. Some bills—such as streamlined permitting for ADUs and requirements for local housing needs assessments—have passed initial hurdles with bipartisan support in committee. Others—like zoning incentives for mixed-income, transit-oriented development and fast-tracked approval processes for targeted workforce housing—remain in negotiation but are drawing attention from influential lawmakers in both chambers.

According to Bill Ray, the stars may be aligning for change.

We’re seeing real movement on the ground floor of the legislature,” he says. “These bills are starting with a base of support from both Democrats and Republicans, and the broader public is demanding action. That’s a strong position to build from.”

Ray cautions that success won’t happen overnight—but emphasizes that meaningful progress is underway.

Even if we don’t get everything across the finish line in one session, we’re building the muscle memory to keep coming back stronger. We’re growing a durable coalition that knows how to work the problem—and stay at the table.”

This is a high-stakes moment. If Colorado succeeds, it could offer a powerful proof of concept: that a builder-led, bipartisan, community-backed coalition can turn the tide on housing affordability—before the crisis becomes irreversible.

And that might just change the future of housing everywhere.