Colorado has officially dismantled the advisory committee that once oversaw the state's Homeless Prevention Activities Program, folding its funding streams directly into the Colorado Emergency Rental Assistance program. Governor Jared Polis signed HB26-1192 into law on April 13, restructuring HPAP and eliminating the statutory board that had guided it since the program's creation. The change took effect July 1, when HPAP ceased operating as a standalone program.
According to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the bill was designed to restructure HPAP so that programs remain effective and emergency funds reach vulnerable Coloradans faster, while streamlining operations by removing the advisory committee. State Representatives Carlos Barron and Jacque Phillips, along with state Senator Tony Exum, sponsored HB26-1192, per the department's Facebook post as part of its #DOLALegHighlights series covering bills passed during the 2026 legislative session. The agency framed the move as an effort to reduce duplication across grant programs now that the advisory committee is no longer required by statute.
What HPAP Used to Do
Created under Colorado Revised Statutes § 26-7.8-101, HPAP historically provided short-term rental assistance, utility assistance, and case management for up to seven months to households earning 50% or less of the Area Median Income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Grants were awarded through annual competitive applications, allowing local governments and nonprofits to pay landlords and utility vendors directly on behalf of struggling households. The program was also funded in part through Colorado's State Income Tax Check-off system under state tax law, which let residents voluntarily direct a portion of their refund dollars toward homelessness prevention.
Now that structure is gone. As of July 1, per the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, HPAP's financial resources have shifted into existing Division of Housing programs, chiefly the Colorado Emergency Rental Assistance program, or CERA. Nonprofits and municipal grant applicants that once relied on a dedicated HPAP grant cycle must now apply through DOLA's consolidated Division of Housing Funding Directory instead.
Testimony Behind the Bill
The restructuring wasn't a surprise to those following the legislative process. During a March 3 hearing before the House Transportation, Housing & Local Government Committee, DOLA Office of Homeless Initiatives Associate Director Nellie Stagg testified alongside Division of Housing representative Laurel Varenll in support of eliminating HPAP's advisory board to cut down on grant program duplication, according to records from the Colorado General Assembly. That testimony came after the bill was introduced in February 2026 and worked through legislative committees the following month before reaching the governor's desk.
Exactly how CERA will absorb HPAP's caseload remains an open question for the nonprofits that previously counted on a dedicated application window. CERA expanded its own intake options in March 2025, offering monthly random selection through the Division of Housing and daily random selection through the CARE Center, a structure DOLA built to manage high statewide demand from residents facing eviction. Whether that randomized model can match HPAP's more targeted, seven-month case management approach for households at or below half the Area Median Income has not been addressed in available state records.
Part of a Broader Legislative Push
HB26-1192 did not pass in isolation. The 2026 Colorado General Assembly also approved HB26-1202, which requires DOLA to submit a comprehensive proposal for a statewide homelessness prevention and resolution strategy during its January 2027 SMART Act hearing. That companion bill also empowers local governments to form multijurisdictional homelessness response authorities that pool regional resources, according to legislative records.
The consolidation follows other recent DOLA moves on homelessness. The agency's Division of Housing provided $30,000 to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative in 2026 to support statewide homelessness data collection, a contribution Hoodline previously reported was tied to regional efforts evaluating rental assistance and shelter outcomes. DOLA has also managed targeted youth and family prevention work in the past; a January 2025 state legislative memorandum noted the agency oversaw rapid re-housing for 138 homeless students and host-home stipends for 10 unhoused youth during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Last September, DOLA and Governor Polis opened the Sage Ridge Supportive Residential Community, converting a former youth facility into a 192-bed residential recovery community for unhoused adults, pairing transitional beds with on-site withdrawal management clinics. Taken together, state officials are positioning HPAP's absorption into CERA as one piece of a larger effort to consolidate homelessness programs ahead of DOLA's required 2027 statewide strategy proposal, though how the transition will affect nonprofits accustomed to HPAP's dedicated grant cycle has yet to be fully spelled out.
