Windsor housing opt-in heads to board despite 176-unit target

Staff plans to bring a Proposition 123 opt-in resolution to the Windsor Town Board on Oct. 28, despite a 176-unit affordable-housing target for 2027-29 that a staff member said the town cannot meet.

Local governments seeking Proposition 123 funding must file a commitment with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs by Nov. 1. Windsor could opt in with a commitment it expects to miss and remain eligible for funding during the three-year cycle, the staff member said. Opting out would cost the town access to funding for housing, transportation and energy projects. If Windsor opts in but misses its target, it would lose eligibility in 2030, then could opt in for 2031 and 2032 under a calculation for those two years.

The staff member said Windsor could not reach 176 affordable units even if it required a share of new development to be affordable. Department of Local Affairs staff considered opting in probably Windsor’s best option and expected other communities to face similar circumstances, the staff member said. “See what we can do,” Mayor Pro Tem Jason Hallett said, favoring an opt-in that would preserve access to funding. Mayor Julie Cline said she was inclined to follow staff’s recommendation to opt in.

Windsor built 46 affordable units at Jacoby Meadows Senior Apartments, exceeding the 44-unit goal set when it opted into Proposition 123 in November 2023. A law passed in May changed the goal calculation from a flat 3% annual requirement to one based on residential permits and county job growth. Windsor issued 183 residential permits in 2023, 555 in 2024 and 433 in 2025, totaling 1,171, or an average of 390 a year.

A speaker at the work session said a 10% inclusionary-zoning requirement would mean building 1,760 units in three years to meet the target. The speaker compared that with 1,100 units in the previous three-year lookback. An adjustment waiver was unlikely to be approved given the required verifiable data, the staff member said.