Fort Collins officials say regional housing assessment shows roughly 7,000-unit need over 10 years

Fort Collins staff and a consultant told the City Council at a March work session that the region faces sharp rent and home-price increases and a notable shortage of housing that is affordable to lower- and middle-income households.

Molly Fitzpatrick of Root Policy Research presented the regional housing needs assessment, saying Fort Collins saw roughly a 30% increase in rents from 2018–2023 and that vacancy rates remain tight at about 5%. Fitzpatrick said owners’ incomes and purchasing power have not kept pace with home prices and higher mortgage rates, and that homeownership rates have fallen for households earning roughly $50,000–$100,000 per year.

The assessment found nearly 19,000 renters in Fort Collins spending more than 30% of income on housing and identified the largest rental-market gap below 50% area median income (AMI). On the for-sale side, the biggest mismatch is among households earning between 50% and 100% AMI, where the market provides too few starter homes. Fitzpatrick summarized the production analysis by saying the city would need about 7,000 units over the next decade to accommodate expected growth and ease pressure on affordability, while noting that the market can typically supply higher-AMI units without public subsidies.

Vanessa Findlay of the city’s housing team said the assessment follows state methodology required by Senate Bill 174 and was conducted regionally with Larimer County and Loveland to produce both regional context and locally tailored data. The assessment drew from public engagement (a Fort Collins meeting at Old Town Library), roughly 1,100 resident survey responses and about 43 employer responses.

Why it matters: staff and the consultant argued the assessment will serve as the launchpad for a Fort Collins housing action plan, which staff aim to start this spring or early summer after contracting a consultant with recently secured state grant funds. The action plan will be locally tailored even though the needs assessment was done regionally; city staff said they will coordinate with Larimer County and Loveland but produce a Fort Collins-focused action plan for council consideration later in the year.

Council members asked how the regional approach maps to local action: staff confirmed that each jurisdiction will develop its own housing action plan while using the regional assessment as a shared evidence base. Members also pressed staff on "missing middle" housing (duplexes/triplexes/fourplexes), rent breakdowns by bedroom type, and whether the 7,000‑unit estimate is intended only to preserve a 5% vacancy baseline (the state’s methodology) or to pursue a more aggressive affordability target. Fitzpatrick said the 7,000 figure starts from state demographer growth projections and a 5% vacancy assumption, and that the council could choose a more ambitious production target if it wants to prioritize restoring earlier affordability levels.

What’s next: staff will incorporate council feedback and finalize the regional housing needs assessment for state submission, then begin the process that will produce Fort Collins’ housing action plan and return that plan to council for adoption later in the year.

Attributions: Remarks and data above were presented by Molly Fitzpatrick (Root Policy Research), Vanessa Findlay (City of Fort Collins housing staff), and Jacob Castillo (Chief Sustainability Officer).