Colorado Governor gives state of the state address, affordable housing one of his top priorities this year

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -Governor Jared Polis invoking a popular meme today in his state of the state address.

"Housing policy that creates more affordable choices for Coloradans is my roman empire," said Polis.

He made the point that he thinks about affordable housing a lot.   

"If you don’t get that joke, feel free to ask someone from gen z," said Polis.

Interest rates and property taxes have been hitting families hard across Colorado. The governor said this session he'll be especially supportive of bills that reduce the cost of housing and encourage innovative approaches such as new financing strategies, easing parking restrictions, and tackling liability costs for those who build multi-family condominiums. 

Republican representative Rose Pugliese agrees.She too would like to see a bill that would encourage the growth of multi-family condo construction. 

"We do believe building more condos, especially for that entry level housing for young people and for people who, you know, need to be working and are just entering into the housing arena," said Pugliese

But Pugliese thinks that Polis should have taken more accountability Thursday as far as policies that serve to raise home prices. 

"I think part of the issue for me is the lack of acknowledgment by the governor of the regulations that have been put in place, that actually are... it's making housing unaffordable," said Pugliese.

Some of those regulations she's talking about came through a bill that Polis signed into law. 

" Building greenhouse gas emissions" was intended to make new homes more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.But critics said it raised the price of homes by adding costlier materials and regulations to the construction process. 

"I think that there's the ability to have governments out of the way. Right? when you've got some of these energy codes or all electric houses, some of those bills that came forward, they actually increase the cost of bills by 80 to a hundred thousand, depending on some areas," said Pugliese.

KRDO 13 reached out governor Polis for an interview but he was not available. Either way though, it would appear that both republicans and democrats are eager to tackle this issue in 2024.

The question now, can they arrive at a strategy that everyone agrees on.