A bill Gov. Jared Polis signed into law during a Hayden visit on Wednesday aims to support the development of child care facilities across Colorado.

The law will create three new programs to be implemented and administered by the state’s Department of Local Affairs. The programs are aimed at providing grants to child care providers, developers, local governments and educational institutes with a goal of helping those entities navigate the technical aspects of planning and building child care facilities.

Polis said the new law supporting the development of child care facilities is part of a wider push to meet the demand for affordable housing in Colorado, which he called a “top concern.”

“(The state’s Department of Local Affairs) is often involved with most affordable housing projects that we see in the state,” Polis said. “This will add to their portfolio, and this will also help with the capital needs for building child care centers.

“The cost of housing is simply too high in most parts of Colorado. We have to deliver more housing close to jobs, so we don’t just put more traffic on the roads and more congestion. We have to do it in a way that improves our quality of life as well as affordability to make sure that Colorado can continue to thrive.”

Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, sponsored the bill titled, “Programs for the Development of Child Care Facilities,” and Polis signed it into law during a ceremony in Hayden as one of six stops made by the governor Wednesday during a bill-signing tour of Northwest Colorado.

Citing a report from the Center for American Progress, Lukens highlighted how 53% of rural Colorado is classified as a “child care desert.”

“That is really for three reasons,” Lukens said. “One is the workforce shortage and we have done plenty of bills to address that — there is certainly more work that can be done.”

According to Lukens, the second reason is just that child care is not affordable for families, and the third reason is because of a lack of physical facilities.

“There are different bills that can target different categories, and this bill specifically targets that actual building of these child care facilities.”

Lukens added that the new law will allow the Department of Local Affairs to support local communities that are prepared to develop child care facilities by providing technical assistance, planning grants and a toolkit to help navigate the space.

“Early child care is heavily regulated, which it should be because we are talking about little, little kids, and there’s a lot of rules in place to keep people safe,” Lukens said. “Families should have access to child care near where they live or work, which is why partnership and participation from local governments is so critical. This bill encourages and incentivizes communities to consider child care as part of their infrastructure.”

Certified child care facilities in Routt County have capacity for 793 of the 1,035 children in the county under age 5, according to a 2022 study performed by the county in collaboration with the Craig Scheckman Family Foundation and the Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver.

Routt County First Impressions Program Executive Director Meg Franges told Steamboat Springs City Council members earlier this month that the assessment “is a little bit out of date,” and the local child care capacity figure is likely closer to 600.

According to the child care study, which is based on data collected in 2020, 42% of families with toddlers and 23% with infants in the county lack formal child care services.

Franges explained that a major factor behind the local child care capacity stems from a finding that 88% of local providers are not fully staffed or operating at their licensed capacity — an issue “compounded by lack of compensation and affordable housing.”

Employees at Routt County child care facilities earn roughly a $20 hourly wage on average. At the same time, parents pay providers between $20,000 and $25,000 each year per child, but the actually daily cost for child care providers equates to about $150 for each pupil.

“Centers cannot charge that — nobody can afford that — so they have to subsidize,” Franges said. “Child care is not a lucrative business; it’s a service and a necessary service for our community.”