Colorado Governor Candidate Proposes High Country Housing Fixes

Aspen —Stephen T. Hamilton, the American Constitutional Party candidate for Colorado governor, answered a direct question from the Aspen Times: How does he plan to fix the High Country housing crisis when most state money goes to the Front Range?

His answer was blunt. He wants "High Country-specific tools."

Let’s break down what that actually means for your wallet and your neighborhood.

1. Deed-Restricted Workforce Housing Hamilton proposes expanding state incentives for local housing authorities and employers to build deed-restricted homes. For context, this targets the teachers, nurses, and first responders currently priced out of towns like Aspen, Basalt, and Carbondale. It’s not market-rate luxury; it’s survival housing for the people who keep the lights on.

2. Modular and Manufactured Housing He wants to accelerate approvals for modular and manufactured homes. On paper, this sounds simple. In practice, it means cutting through the red tape that currently slows down construction. If you’ve watched a lot sit empty in the valley while families wait for a permit, this is the lever he’s pulling.

3. Unlocking Underused Land Hamilton aims to unlock underused state and federal land near existing infrastructure. This isn’t about greenfield development. It’s about using the dirt that’s already paved, wired, and piped. It’s efficient. It’s cheap. It’s smart.

4. Fixing Condo Project Killers He plans to reform construction defect and insurance barriers that kill condo projects. Let’s do the math. If insurance costs spike, condos stall. If condos stall, supply drops. If supply drops, prices rise. It’s a domino effect. He’s trying to stop the first domino.

5. Protecting Local Dollars Finally, he wants to protect local dollars from being swept to Front Range formulas. This is the big one. Right now, a lot of state housing money gets distributed based on population formulas that favor Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs. Hamilton wants to keep the cash in the valley where it’s needed.

He also supports giving towns and counties clear legal authority to license, cap, and tax short-term rentals. He wants a meaningful fee on homes vacant more than six months a year, with revenue directly dedicated to local workforce housing. He does not support a one-size-fits-all statewide ban. He believes tourism drives the mountain economy, and many families rely on rental income. His approach is local flexibility — let each community set limits that protect neighborhoods and long-term rentals while keeping tourism viable.

On water, Hamilton says he will defend Colorado’s senior water rights and compact entitlements. He wants to invest in conservation, storage, and reuse without new transmountain diversions that harm the West Slope. He plans to fully fund the Colorado Water Plan and support agricultural water protection through voluntary, compensated conservation. He sees watershed health and forest management as key to protecting flows.

The bottom line? Hamilton is betting that mountain towns need different rules than Denver. He thinks the state has been treating the High Country like a suburb of the Front Range, and it’s time to stop. If he’s right, we’ll see more workforce housing, fewer empty vacation homes, and more control over our own short-term rental markets. If he’s wrong, we’ll just keep waiting for Denver to notice us.