Legislative Proposal

The HOME Act

Boulder Development GroupAugust 1, 202620 min read

The Housing Opportunity, Modernization & Efficiency Act — five targeted amendments to modernize Boulder Municipal Code and close the gap between the housing Boulder has planned for and the housing it can actually build.

Executive summary

Boulder’s middle-income housing crisis was built — regulation by regulation, fee by fee — over four decades. The challenge is no longer principally one of planning but of implementation: a growing share of projects that fully comply with Boulder’s own RH-3, RH-4, and RH-5 zoning can no longer be financed.

Construction costs are not the cause. From 1980–2025, construction materials grew 265% while median wages grew 360%. Government-imposed cost per multifamily unit, by contrast, grew 421% on the by-right track and 478% on the height-modification track between 2000 and 2026 — roughly four times the 109% growth in wages over the same period.