DENVER (AP) — Colorado residents have voted to rewrite the state’s tax law to direct an estimated $300 million a year to affordable housing projects.
The ballot initiative funnels a fraction of Colorado’s taxable income into programs that include helping essential workers buy homes and supporting local governments to increase affordable housing stock.
The proposition’s passage could help make up the state’s housing deficit after the U.S. Census Bureau found Colorado faces a shortage of about 225,000 homes.
The measure faced backlash because it will reduce the annual tax refunds guaranteed to Colorado residents under a constitutional amendment called the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
