Adams County reviews DRCOG regional housing needs assessment and launches local HNA process

Adams County officials on Thursday reviewed the Denver-region housing needs assessment produced for DRCOG and outlined a separate county housing needs assessment that Adams County plans to complete with consultant Echo Northwest.

County staff said the regional analysis — which DRCOG and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) have deemed methodologically compliant for state planning requirements under SB 24-174 — shows substantial shortfalls in housing across price points, with the largest gap at the lowest income levels.

The report “provides really great information and creates a shared foundation to understand how much housing the region needs,” said Ben Fulton, development policy analyst for Adams County, during the presentation. Fulton said the regional analysis breaks total need into units the region must provide to close current shortages and additional units needed to keep pace with projected population and job growth.

County staff summarized the DRCOG findings this way: the Denver region needs roughly 500,000 housing units by 2050, with about 223,000 of those units needed between 2023 and 2032 to keep pace with current and near‑term demand. DRCOG’s analysis separates that total into about 69,000 units representing the current shortfall and approximately 154,000 units representing projected future need within the 2023–2032 window. For Adams County specifically, the regional analysis estimates about 36,500 units will be needed across the county during that decade, including roughly 7,610 units in unincorporated Adams County.

Fulton emphasized the distributional nature of need: “There’s a really big need for folks who have between, who are below 50% AMI,” meaning households earning less than half of area median income face the largest supply gap in the region. Presenters noted that gaps narrow at higher AMI bands and that household filtering and demographic change mean jurisdictions will need a range of housing types.

Staff framed the DRCOG work in the context of recent state law. SB 24-174 (the Sustainable Affordable Housing Act), passed in 2024, requires methodologically compliant housing needs assessments by most local governments by 2026. DOLA’s guidance allows a jurisdiction to use a DRCOG regional HNA for compliance if the governing body reviews the regional analysis at a public meeting and submits comments to DRCOG and DOLA during a specified public‑comment window; county staff reminded commissioners that the window for submitting comments in this cycle runs through Sept. 12.

Adams County also announced it has secured a DOLA Strong Communities Planning Grant to fund a county-specific housing needs assessment. Melissa Sherry, the county’s housing policy and community investments manager, said the county has contracted Echo Northwest and will begin local public engagement; the first public event will be at Strasburg Hometown Days. “We want to hear what the needs are,” Sherry said.

Consultant Andy Taylor of Echo Northwest explained how the DRCOG model allocates regional totals to jurisdictions. He described factors used in the analysis — population and employment projections, commuting patterns, current and planned transit access, housing vacancy and supply metrics — and said the model incorporates both current transit stations and planned rapid transit corridors when allocating need.

Commissioners and staff asked practical questions about timing, grant prospects and how AMI bands translate to dollar incomes and rent. Presenters showed a CHFA rent table during the briefing; staff highlighted examples from that table to help commissioners and the public understand what 50% or 100% AMI looks like in dollars and in maximum rents.

County staff asked the board to accept the DRCOG presentation as part of the record and to direct staff to submit any comments on the regional HNA to DRCOG and DOLA by the public-comment deadline. No formal vote was recorded at the meeting; staff said they will collect commissioner feedback by email and include that material in the county’s submission.

County staff also described next steps for the local HNA: Echo Northwest will conduct outreach and data analysis, the county will integrate local findings with the regional results, and staff plan to use the county HNA to inform a balanced housing plan and subsequent updates to development standards and incentive programs.

The county emphasized that the regional numbers are a top‑down allocation and that the local HNA will provide the more granular, place‑based data local officials need to consider zoning changes, incentive tools, and targeted affordable‑housing funding strategies.