Working Together: Regional Collaboration
Housing needs often extend across jurisdictional boundaries, making regional collaboration a valuable strategy for increasing the supply of affordable housing and addressing shared housing challenges. Proposition 123 allows local and tribal governments to work together and share unit credit for affordable housing produced through joint efforts.
Under C.R.S. § 29-32-105(3)(d)(II), the statute states:
“Regional collaboration and partnership is encouraged. Local governments and tribal governments may enter into written agreements with other local governments and tribal governments that allow each jurisdiction to receive partial credit towards the local government’s or tribal government’s growth requirement for the purpose of calculating whether a local government or tribal government has met the requirements of subsection (1) of this section. The sum of the total units credited to the local governments and tribal governments shall not exceed the total number of units produced through the collaboration.”
How Unit Attribution Works in Regional Projects
Jurisdictions must establish a formal written agreement that:
- Clearly identifies all participating jurisdictions
- Ensures the total credited units do not exceed the units actually produced
- Ensures that no one unit is counted twice
- Establishes a collaborative framework under which the jurisdictions will support the production of affordable housing and share unit credit toward each jurisdiction's Proposition 123 growth requirement
The written agreement must be submitted as part of the compliance document package.
For examples of regional collaboration, watch the February 2025 Housing Strategies Peer Exchange or learn more about Intergovernmental Agreements, both hosted by the Division of Local Government.
Whole Unit Counting – No Fractional Attribution
To maintain consistency and verifiability in unit counting, jurisdictions must report whole units, not fractions. While the statute does not explicitly prohibit fractional counting, Proposition 123 reporting and compliance systems do not accommodate partial unit credits (e.g., a jurisdiction cannot count 7.5 units toward its commitment).
Instead, jurisdictions should:
- Round up or down so each receives whole unit counts.
- Define an agreed-upon distribution based on funding contributions, geography, or another documented formula.
