Broomfield staff warns housing fund could be largely drained by end of 2027, proposes $640,000 General Fund shift

Broomfield’s Housing Division is warning that the city’s dedicated Housing Development Fund could be largely drained by the end of 2027, prompting a proposal outlined in a June 16 City Council study-session packet to shift $640,000 in General Fund support into next year’s budget to keep core housing programs running.

The memo says the Housing Development Fund is projected to start 2027 with about $1.7 million and, if current spending patterns continue, face “significant depletion” by the end of that year. Staff says the proposed General Fund shift would preserve an estimated year-end Housing Development Fund balance of about $836,500 while redirecting that fund toward affordable-housing development and gap financing.

The proposal is not yet a budget adoption. The housing item was presented as a study session update, and the packet says no formal council action was required June 16. The same memo says housing priorities will be folded into planning ahead of September budget discussions and October budget adoption.

That sets up a broader budget question for council: not just whether to backfill the housing fund, but what to give up elsewhere. Staff says identifying the additional $640,000 in General Fund support required “significant organizational trade-offs,” including delaying, reducing or denying other departmental program and operational requests.

The June 16 update also lays out how that money would be used. Staff proposes converting the city’s Partial Property Tax Refund program into a new Broomfield Older Adult Assistance program that would review applications together and prioritize residents with the greatest financial need, rather than awarding help on a first-come, first-served basis. The packet says the homeowner piece would become a one-time flat-rate grant supported through General Fund resources.

Other programs slated for continuation or expansion in the draft 2027 framework include Sunshine Home Share, which staff says would be restored to $40,000; eviction prevention and warranty-of-habitability legal assistance; and the mobile home park initiative. The packet says the mobile home park effort would expand in 2027 beyond park residents to all qualifying Broomfield residents earning up to 60% of area median income.

The broader backdrop is a housing division trying to preserve existing assistance while a key revenue source becomes less reliable. The memo says the Housing Development Fund has historically been supported in part by developer cash-in-lieu payments, but that more developers are now choosing to build affordable units directly instead of paying fees, reducing that revenue stream.

As of the official records reviewed for this assignment, no later city document was found showing that the proposed $640,000 General Fund shift had been revised after the June 16 study session and before the 2027 budget is drafted. The current public record supports a staff warning and a proposed funding approach, but not a final council decision on how those tradeoffs will be resolved.