Boulder County’s Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 2 voted to accept the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) housing needs assessment for Boulder County to meet requirements under Senate Bill 24-174. The vote took place during a virtual business meeting; the motion to accept item 4a passed unanimously.

Heidi Grove, Division of Homeless Systems and Coordinated Response, Boulder County Housing Department, presented the report and described it as a county-specific baseline drawn from DRCOG data for both incorporated and unincorporated areas. “Signing on to the housing needs assessment does not require us to move forward with any strategy recommendations as set forth by DRCOG,” Grove said, adding the county would use the assessment as a compliance document rather than an automatic work plan.

Grove summarized key findings the assessment attributed to Boulder County: the greatest projected need is for deep affordable rental housing serving households at 0–50% of area median income (AMI); roughly half of households face severe cost burden in the rental market; recent permitting trends show a concentration of one-bedroom units; and projections to 2032 show household and job growth that increases demand for accessible transit and housing. Grove also said the report projects an increase in the number of people reporting a disabling condition over the study period.

Commissioner Levy, who said he serves on the DRCOG steering committee for strategies, noted DRCOG’s role as a metropolitan planning organization and described that committee’s focus as tools and land-use planning rather than financing. “Through DRCOG, there is a steering committee on, on strategies, which I serve on,” Levy said, referring to Metro Vision and regional planning tools that inform possible local actions.

County staff and commissioners discussed how the assessment will be used. Grove said the county’s planning staff and workforce development personnel reviewed the slide deck and that the assessment will be used alongside the county’s comprehensive plan review and regional housing partnership work. “What we are requesting is the board’s permission to accept the needs assessment as our results instead of us paying for a separate needs assessment or needing to do any additional work to be in compliance with Senate Bill 24-174,” Grove said.

The board’s action was limited to accepting the DRCOG assessment for compliance purposes; commissioners did not adopt any of DRCOG’s strategy recommendations at the meeting. Commissioners also discussed interdepartmental coordination and asked that county staff continue to work with planning and regional partners on next steps. A county staff member (Peyton, OCA office) was asked to join DRCOG advisory work moving forward.

Background: DRCOG is the Denver Regional Council of Governments; Metro Vision is DRCOG’s long-range plan referenced in the discussion. The assessment provided county-level data on dwelling types (single-family, townhome, small multifamily, mobile home), tenure shifts toward renter-occupied units, and income-based need projections intended to inform local and regional planning.

Next steps noted in the meeting included returning to the board as necessary with implementation options; staff did not present or adopt financing plans, ordinance changes, or specific programmatic commitments during this meeting.