Denver's Right of First Refusal (ROFR) and Right of First Offer (ROFO). Update: State Title Board again rejects your “Right to Know”.
Denver’s Right of First Refusal (ROFR) and Right of First Offer (ROFO)
I saw a post by a reader on Twitter recently. It shows how Denver is proposing to implement a 2024 law passed by the state legislature.
Let's start with the 2024 bill. It's linked first below. I took a screenshot of the bill's fiscal note summary and attached those as screenshots 1 and 2.
As you can see from the highlight in screenshot 2 that it just wouldn't be Colorado if we didn't throw a bone or two to nonprofits no?
In summary, the bill allows local governments (for buildings of a certain size depending on whether your municipality qualifies as urban or rural/resort) either the right to purchase a property if it's already listed as affordable housing for (quoting the summary) "... an economically or substantially identical offer to another offer that a seller receives" or to have the right to tender the first offer for any other type of property.
The second link below (and you may have to copy/paste to get it to work--it's not a website per se) is to Denver's own plan.
Denver's story goes back to 2015 (see the third link below), when the city approved the delightfully termed (quoted from that link): " ... thoughtful balance of property tax revenue and a one-time fee on new development" which went into a fund to help the "preserve" affordable housing.
If you want to see more detail on how that money is used, see screenshot 3 attached.
Fast forward to now and Denver is boasting about their success. Quoting from the second link:
"Between 2019 and 2025, we have helped preserve1,443 affordable units citywide, thanks to the Preservation Ordinance."
Perhaps having gotten a taste for it, Denver seems inclined now to expand their FOFR and ROFO programs via a 2026 city ordinance. I took a screenshot of their tables from the second link below and attach them here as 4a - 4c. Any updates to current policy are in red at the far right.
I'll leave it to you to scour the pictures for changes, but I can summarize things decently and mention a few standouts here.
Broadly the changes fall under the rubric of extending current deadlines to favor the city purchasing the property. This is on top of Denver's existing ordinance already being stricter than the state's created in the 2024 bill. Pictures 4a and 4b, when you read the red text illustrate this well.
Another big, noteworthy change is the entire row shown in 4b. As opposed to only some market-rate buildings qualifying for a ROFO, they all do under the proposed ordinance (this is on top of, again, more favorable timelines and terms for the city).
Lastly, something interesting. Recall that both the state law and Denver's existing ordinance allow the government the right to first refusal (i.e. I have to give you a NO before you can sell to someone else) on existing affordable housing.
Return to 4a and note that it alludes to a "Designated Preservation Partner" in the new ordinance. This same term pops up in 4b, giving a hint at what this partner will be doing.
Further down in Denver's presentation, we see the term again with more flesh on its bones this time; this is where the picture becomes clearer. See screenshot 5 attached.
In brief, if you own a property currently listed as affordable housing, not only do you have to wait for the city to pass, if Denver's new ordinance passes, you'd have to wait for one of the city's preferred partners to also say no on a sale.
Think about this for a second and put it in terms closer to home. Let's say that I told you you couldn't sell your home (under certain conditions) unless I said that I didn't want it. Oh, and on top of that, all my friends, the people I deem worthy (not you) also get a shot.
I would bet you my lunch that this turns into another tightening of the government/NGO/nonprofit relationship. After all, the city government gets to confer this special right of first refusal on the folks they deem to be worthy.
One last nibble, this one stretches all the way back to the original 2024 state law. While all this goes on, you cannot end leases with any of your tenants. That is, you cannot begin any "no cause" evictions.
This puts city government square in the middle of private transactions and is, quite simply, a violation of one's property rights.
If the city wanted to deter people from building more housing that might be labeled as affordable, I can't think of a better way to do it than to make them subject to the whim of the city government and its friends, or to make it so that I can prepare for some change to my property by legally ending the relationship with my current tenants.
I sure hope the city keeps all that affordable housing they have now. I don't foresee a spike in new affordable construction.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1175
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Preservation%20Ordinance_CPH%20(2026%204-28).pdf
https://denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Department-of-Housing-Stability/Partner-Resources/Dedicated-Affordable-Housing-Fund
Related:
Denver has so much of (your) money that they can not only afford to use some to buy up housing for people, they can pay people grants to do neighborhood-level "sustainability and resilience" work.
If you're at all like me you asked yourself, "golly, what kinds of things can get money?"
In my reading of the article linked at bottom, I didn't see any awards yet, but the following quote helps flesh it out.
"Rather than funding major infrastructure, the city says grants are geared toward engagement and behavior change. [Denver Climate Office's Emily] Gideon says examples of projects include beautification initiatives around the city, like planting trees or flowers in neighborhoods, and community workshops or discussions about saving energy or transportation costs."
Calling all conservative gardeners, cash in on this now. Perhaps a flower display spelling out the words "Save TABOR?" Other thoughts are welcome in the comments.
https://denverite.com/2026/04/24/denver-climate-change-neighborhood-mini-grants/
Update: State Title Board again rejects your “Right to Know”
Quick update. Per the CFOIC article linked below, the State Title Board rejected the appeal for the Right to Know amendment, again citing concerns over voters not knowing what they’re voting for.
I am not sure what, if any, plans there are from the amendment proponents going forward. The next recourse from here is to take the issue to the State Supreme Court for a decision on title setting.
I will update as I hear more. Details are in the article below.
p.s. color me not at all surprised that it is the Secretary of State’s and Attorney General’s representatives holding this up. We all know what great fans of government transparency those offices are!