Windsor backs 176-unit affordable housing goal staff call unattainable

The Windsor Town Board approved filing a commitment to pursue 176 affordable housing units from 2027 through 2029, despite staff’s assessment that the target is unattainable.

The resolution directs the town manager or a designee to file the Proposition 123 commitment before Nov. 1. Staff recommended filing despite expecting to miss the target, keeping Windsor eligible for funding during the next three-year cycle. The staff presentation says opting out would cost Windsor access to funding for housing, transportation and energy projects. “I know transportation applies for grants off and on, so really don't want to hinder that, in my opinion,” a staff member said.

Mayor Julie Cline asked whether the state could change the commitment rules again. The staff member said the state could change the requirements again. Town Board Member Ron Steinbach said he thought the state had put Windsor in this position.

House Bill 26-1313, passed in May, replaced a flat 3% annual affordable-housing goal with one based on residential building permits and county job growth. Windsor issued 1,171 permits for new housing from 2023 through 2025, an annual average of 390. Applying Windsor’s 15% job-growth factor produces a goal of 176 affordable units over the three-year cycle.

Windsor opted into the previous Proposition 123 cycle in November 2023, committing to 44 affordable units. The town built 46 at Jacoby Meadows Senior Apartments. Of the development’s 62 rental units, 46 qualified under the program’s income limit of 60% of area median income, the staff member said.

The staff presentation calls the 176-unit goal unattainable even if Windsor supported minimum affordable-housing percentages in new developments. The staff member said an adjustment waiver was highly unlikely because Windsor lacked a valid justification for missing the goal. The presentation says missing the target would make Windsor ineligible for Proposition 123 funding in 2030. The town could opt in for the remaining two years of the 2030-2032 cycle with a new goal based only on those two years.