Lawmakers to address fair housing protections for veterans next session

Photo: Steve Knutson/unsplash

By Robert Davis

Even though the 2022 legislative session is nearly two months away from convening, at least one state lawmaker is already drafting legislation to provide fair housing protections for current and former military members. 

Rep. David Ortiz, D-Littleton, a U.S. Army veteran, said he plans to introduce a bill that will add an individual’s military status to the list of protected classes under Colorado’s fair housing statute. 

"For the countless sacrifices that service members have made since our founding, it's angering that veterans are being discriminated against and denied housing simply for their veteran status,” Rep. Ortiz said in a statement. 

The draft bill has already garnered the support of organizations like the Colorado Poverty Law Project (CPLP), a nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services. Jack Regenbogen, a CPLP staff attorney, described the bill as one that’s intended to “equalize the playing field that so that no Coloradan is denied housing based on arbitrary and discriminatory factors.”

“Veterans and servicemembers, who have sacrificed so much for the wellbeing of their country, should not be denied housing because a landlord harbors unfounded prejudices,” Regenbogen said. 

Colorado’s fair housing statute does not mention military status in its list of protected classes, an oversight that Regenbogen argues makes it “currently legal to discriminate against people on that basis.”

Instead, veterans and active-duty military must prove that they were discriminated against for a different reason such as race, religion, or disability status, Regenbogen adds. 

According to the latest American Community Survey1ng for approximately 8.2% of the state’s total population. 

Rep. Ortiz’s bill is also representative of a growing trend underneath the Gold Dome. Colorado lawmakers have accelerated their approach to improving the state’s fair housing laws since the pandemic began last year, including finding creative ways to get around a damaging legal precedent.  

Last session, lawmakers passed bills requiring state agencies to report their progress toward providing affordable housing, banned housing discrimination based on gender identity expression, and expanded local authority to mandate affordable housing. 

The latter, known as House Bill 21-1117, weaves around the Colorado Supreme Court’s Telluride Decision from 2000 that prohibits municipalities from passing rent control ordinances by allowing them to write affordable housing requirements into agency-controlled documents like zoning and building codes.  

However, building affordable housing takes time. And for many people experiencing homelessness in Colorado, time is hard to bear. 

According to the 2021 Point in Time Count, 627 veterans are homeless in the seven-county metro Denver area with most of the population residing in Denver proper. That’s up from the 569 metro-area veterans counted in 2017 and is reaching an “unconscionable” level, according to Ortiz. 

Across the state, another 417 veterans are experiencing homelessness with 157 residing in El Paso County and another 191 living in the “balance of state” continuum—an area that includes 54 of Colorado’s 64 counties—according to data from the Office of Homeless Initiatives. 

Denver’s Department of Housing Stability declared its intent to reach “functional zero” for veteran homelessness by 2026 in its Five-Year Housing Plan. This designation is awarded by the national nonprofit Community Solutions to localities that can identify each person of a specific class that is experiencing homelessness and that have shelter space to offer the identified individuals. 

Fremont County achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness in May, making it the 12th community in the country to receive such a designation. 

The 73rd General Assembly is scheduled to convene on January 12, 2022.