By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority is accepting public comment on proposed changes that will help determine how affordable housing tax credits are awarded across the state. In the commentary below, Cory Gaines argues Coloradans should pay closer attention to the Qualified Allocation Plan, the document that guides those funding decisions and influences which housing projects receive state-supported financing.
Colorado Housing and Finance Authority wants comments on where they distribute housing money
I do a weekly sweep of public notices for my town and often share them. This one actually applies to the whole state, so I’m sharing it as a full on post.
Before looking at what this is in friendlier, language, I want to share the full text of my local public notice is (quoting with links intact):
“Colorado Housing and Finance Authority Announcement of Public Hearing for the 2027-2028 Housing Tax Credit Qualified Allocation Plan Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) will hold three public hearings in Colorado regarding the 2027-2028 Housing Tax Credit Qualified Allocation Plan (the QAP). The purpose of the public hearings is to receive input on the QAP for 2027-2028. A draft of the 2027-2028 QAP and Summary of Changes are available on CHFA’s website: chfainfo.com/qap. The first hearing will be held on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 11:00am via Zoom. The second hearing will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 1:00pm via Zoom. The third hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 10:00am via Zoom. To attend the hearings, please visit chfainfo.com/qap-hearing to access Zoom registration links. If you are unable to attend the hearings, written comments will be accepted up to August 14, 2026, and should be submitted to Kathryn Grosscup at [email protected]. This meeting will be recorded by the presenter. If you do not want to participate in a recorded presentation, please log off of the call. With respect to its programs, services, activities, and employment practices, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees on the basis of age 40 years and over, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, marital status or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Requests for reasonable accommodation, the provision of auxiliary aids, or any complaints alleging violation of this nondiscrimination policy should be directed to the Nondiscrimination Coordinator, 1.800.877.2432, TDD/TTY 800.659.2656, CHFA, 1981 Blake Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1272, available weekdays 8:00am to 5:00pm MT. Published: South Platte Sentinel July 2, 2026-2175834.”
I have written about CHFA before, they are (among other things) one of the gatekeepers that decides how to award tax credits, etc. to developers who want to get taxpayer money to build affordable housing. The Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) mentioned above is the blueprint for how this is done.
The first link below is to the draft QAP for the upcoming period. You can go through the original, but if your time is short, the Summary of Changes is a good place to start.
I found it helpful, also, to start at the summary and then jump to the full report for more detail.
As an example, consider the following from the summary (quoting):
“[This new version of the QAP] Added that projects with capture rates that exceed 85 percent will not be accepted without additional data to support demand”
Going from this to the full report and searching for the words “capture rates,” something I was unfamiliar with, led to some interesting tidbits which I gathered into a collage and attach as screenshots 1a and 1b. Even if you don’t understand it all, consider the amount of thought that went into this plan, the amount of fluff an applicant can stuff in their application, and the sciency sheen this whole play act adds to the process.
Note: any text underlined in red font is new text in this year’s QAP.
I’ll end here. Private Activity Bonds are mentioned in the full QAP along with the summary. These are worth a quick mention because hiding under that fun name is another government scheme to offer incentives to someone which you get to fund.
If you want to learn up on those, I put a couple resources for you. The Second link below is to an earlier newsletter detailing what these bonds are and a lawsuit over their use out of the Springs. The third link is to CHFA’s own site on these bonds and their use for affordable housing.
https://www.chfainfo.com/rental-housing/housing-credit/qualified-allocation-plan
Media omissions and confusion about ICE
Let’s start off with some basic facts. The CBS article linked first below does a pretty decent job of outlining a road rage incident on HWY 36 between Boulder and Denver. Proceeding from there, the two suspects succeeded in bonding out of the Boulder County jail. They have been picked up by ICE and are facing deportation.
That’s the skeleton of the story. How the flesh gets layered on from here depends on which outlet you read and who you choose to believe from among the various government agencies involved–the Boulder DA, ICE, the Boulder sheriff.
ICE came out swinging on July 1st with the tweet you see linked second below. Quoting:
“ICE Denver arrested Fabio Escobar-Munguia and Yerlin Menguia-Hernandez, both criminal aliens from Honduras. They have pending charges for 2 counts of felony homicide, 2x felony assault, firing a weapon in Boulder Co. After they were arrested Boulder Co. released them on bond!”
In one of the replies, ICE continued: “ICE had to pick them up in YOUR community as immigration detainers were not honored! ESCOBAR will be deported and MENGUIA will remain in custody pending immigration proceedings.”
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.