.png)
By John Tayer, CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. Originally published in BizWest on September 2, 2021.
"When is a bedroom not a bedroom? ... When it’s in Boulder.
Across Boulder, there are bedrooms sitting idle that, otherwise, could accommodate individuals and couples or even just friends who need a place to call home. The reason these bedrooms aren’t serving that purpose are the current occupancy limits that prohibit more than three or four, depending on specific area zoning, unrelated individuals from living together in the same house.
Sure, many homeowners or renters are content to use their extra bedrooms as offices, as exercise space, or for guests. For others, though, that empty bedroom represents the chance to share their rent or mortgage costs with an additional housemate. It also can mean the opportunity to share their home with a non-traditional family member. Even more broadly, that empty room is one less chance to affordably house someone in Boulder at a time when we speak in terms of housing access as a 'crisis.'
Coming to the rescue in the effort to overcome this restraint on housing occupancy is the so called “Bedrooms Are For People” initiative. In short, Bedrooms Are For People will align the occupancy limit for a Boulder home with the number of bedrooms, plus one additional resident. Thus, a four bedroom house could have up to five unrelated occupants, a five bedroom house could have up to six unrelated occupants, and so on.
It’s a simple and positive fix, right?"