Colorado's Cost-of-Living Crisis: What Would Family-First Housing Look Like?

For many Colorado families, the numbers simply aren't adding up anymore. Housing has become one of the largest pressures on household budgets, with both home prices and rents making it increasingly difficult for working families to put down roots. At the same time, the rising costs of groceries, childcare, healthcare, insurance, utilities, and transportation leave families with even less money available for housing.

Colorado remains a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family, but increasingly, families are asking a troubling question: Can we afford to stay here?

The Colorado American Solidarity Party believes housing policy should begin with a simple principle: families and communities come first. A healthy housing market should give ordinary people the opportunity to find a stable home, raise children, build financial security, and become long-term members of their communities.

Putting Families at the Center

Too often, housing policy focuses primarily on the number of units constructed, property values, or economic development. Those things matter, but they shouldn't be the only measures of success.

We should also ask whether young couples can afford their first home, whether families have enough room to raise their children, whether seniors can remain in the communities they helped build, and whether teachers, firefighters, nurses, service workers, and other working Coloradans can afford to live near the communities they serve.

Families raising children already face significant financial pressures. Colorado should pursue policies that make establishing and maintaining a stable home easier, including meaningful tax relief for working and middle-class families.

Strengthening policies such as the Child Tax Credit can help families meet housing and other essential expenses. Supporting families isn't simply another government program—it is an investment in stable neighborhoods, stronger communities, and Colorado's future.

Making Housing Attainable Again

For many Coloradans, homeownership is becoming increasingly difficult, while renters are also struggling with high monthly costs.

There is no single solution. Colorado needs more housing, but we should be thoughtful about where and how it is built. State and local governments should encourage starter homes, townhomes, accessory dwelling units, and other attainable forms of housing while reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers that add significantly to construction costs.

We should also look for ways to encourage homeownership rather than accepting a future in which more Colorado families become permanent renters. Homeownership helps families build equity, provides greater stability, and gives people a stronger financial stake in their communities.

At the same time, communities should have a meaningful voice in development decisions. The answer to excessive regulation should not be replacing local decision-making with one-size-fits-all mandates from Denver. The American Solidarity Party's principle of subsidiarity teaches that decisions should be made as close as reasonably possible to the people affected by them.

Housing policy should therefore balance two important goals: building enough homes to meet Colorado's needs while preserving the ability of local communities to help shape their own futures.

A family-first housing policy should ultimately have a simple goal:

People who work in Colorado communities should have a reasonable opportunity to live in them—and families who put down roots should have a reasonable opportunity to stay.