Agricultural Workforce Housing
We need housing that’s a good fit for farmers and farm workers in our community.
The Boulder Center for Food and Agriculture has been working with Boulder County's Planning and Permitting office since late 2025 to identify opportunities to update the county's land use codes. Current regulations are too limiting and too cost-intensive for farmers to provide meaningful housing for themselves and their workforce.
We're also digging into the other barriers people in agriculture face when trying to find or create housing - the cost of building and maintaining safe, affordable housing in rural and urban settings, tax implications for agricultural infrastructure, and what options exist for offsetting those costs.
We're taking a thorough look at housing models that could work well for producers and their workforce.
We need better information about who farmers and their workforce are. Who are the people who steward our land?
El Boulder Center for Food and Agriculture ha estado colaborando con la Oficina de Planificación y Permisos del Condado de Boulder desde finales de 2025 para identificar oportunidades de actualizar los códigos de uso de suelo del condado. Las normativas actuales son demasiado restrictivas y costosas para que los agricultores puedan proporcionar viviendas adecuadas para sí mismos y para su fuerza laboral.
También estamos analizando a fondo otros obstáculos que enfrentan las personas del sector agrícola al intentar encontrar o crear viviendas: el costo de construir y mantener viviendas seguras y asequibles en entornos rurales y urbanos, las implicaciones fiscales para la infraestructura agrícola y las opciones existentes para compensar dichos costos.
Estamos examinando detenidamente modelos de vivienda que podrían funcionar bien para los productores y sus trabajadores.
Necesitamos mejor información sobre quiénes son los agricultores y su fuerza laboral. ¿Quiénes son las personas que cuidan nuestra tierra?
Agricultural Worker Housing Surveys
Fill out a survey before October 30, 2026, for a chance to win a $200 gift card to your choice of McGuckin Hardware, Murdoch's, or MASA Seed.
*** Adding your name and contact to the survey is 100% optional, but you have to include your name and contact information there if you want a chance at the gift cards.
We'll select 3 winners from each survey category after October 30th.
Pilot Projects
We've started exploring opportunities to create some of this housing. If you or your organization is interested in helping us build the future of ag worker housing in Boulder County, please reach out directly to Lauren.
Read More
Boulder County Planning and Zoning: Land Use Code for Agricultural Worker Housing
Boulder County may allow tiny homes and RVs to help farms keep workers - Boulder Reporting Lab, August 6, 2026
Boulder County farmers asking for more worker housing options - Daily Camera, March 14, 2026
Boulder’s open space needs farmers. Farmers need housing. - Boulder Reporting Lab Op-Ed, March 10, 2026