Proposition 123 Technical Assistance & Outreach

Colorado voters approved Proposition 123 in 2022, directing state income tax revenue to affordable housing. The policy was statewide, but the questions it raised were local: what does this mean for a town of 2,000? How does a county with no planning staff participate? Is the funding enough to move the needle in a place where land costs more than construction?

The capacity range across jurisdictions was enormous. Some had never pulled Census data online; others maintained their own data dashboards. That range shaped what technical assistance looked like — one-size-fits-all training wouldn’t work.

Western Spaces led the technical assistance and outreach program for the Department of Local Affairs, reaching 202 jurisdictions — 87% of the state’s population. The work included five webinars tailored to different community types, 26 regional sessions, and informational materials covering funding, compliance, and the rural resort petition process. The more lasting value was what came back: a final report capturing data gaps, feasibility constraints in small markets, and the distance between state policy goals and local implementation reality — giving DOLA a ground-level view it wouldn’t otherwise have.