Colorado Kicks Off Cash-Back Program for Renters
The program, the first of its kind by a state, will be powered by financial technology company Stake.
Yesterday, a partnership between the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority officially launched Colorado Renter Rewards, a cash-back program for renters in the state.
The program acts as a tenant equity vehicle, a relatively new affordable housing strategy that expands beyond development subsidies. It also allows renters who consistently pay rent on time to receive frequent repayments and participate in property equity, with the goal of strengthening their credit profiles and savings accounts.
The program will be powered by Stake, a financial technology company. Eligible Colorado residents will join the Stake Cash Back Network, which already provides reimbursements to approximately 550,000 renters nationwide.
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The initiative is the first of its kind to be sponsored by a state, and is open to Coloradans living in Proposition 123-supported housing. Voters passed Prop. 123 in 2022 to create the State Affordable Housing Fund.
“The Colorado Renter Rewards program is attracting meaningful interest from a number of states and housing partners,” Stake CEO Rowland Hobbs told Multi-Housing News, noting that the affordability challenges renters face are national in scope, and the early response suggests strong appetite for models that help renters build savings and financial stability through paying their rent on time.
The program does not restrict how renters use their payments. But those who save their reimbursements will be eligible for a nontaxable annual savings match. Additionally, residents who remain in an eligible property for more than a year will be included in annual equity distributions based on returns from apartments across the state that are supported by Prop. 123.
While Colorado is the first state to provide access to the network, other participants already include private property owners and managers, real estate investors, nonprofit organizations, THE credit card company Visa, as well as utility and rental insurance providers.
The first property to join the program is Fall River Village, a workforce community located in Estes Park, Colo. Sixty-six individual and family renters qualified for the program.
Colorado’s housing shortage
Colorado’s population has grown markedly in recent decades, but its housing supply hasn’t kept up, spurring such initiatives as Prop. 123.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition reported that Colorado has a shortage of about 134,000 rental units for extremely low-income households as of 2023, the most recent year for which an estimate is available.
Using somewhat different methodology, the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the Colorado housing shortfall sits at about 183,000 units, one of the highest levels in the country. Housing policy group Up For Growth puts Colorado’s affordable need at about 105,000 units.
