Opening a sober living home in Aurora means working inside three layers of rule at once, and only one of them belongs to the city. Colorado requires no state operating license for a non-clinical recovery residence through June 30, 2027, but C.R.S. § 27-80-129 makes certification by an approved certifying body the condition of calling a home a recovery residence and of taking a referral from any licensed provider. Aurora itself permits a “Group Home, FHAA” under UDO 146-6.2.G of six or fewer residents by right in every residential zone district, and has adopted no sober living ordinance, spacing rule, or resident cap of its own. Arapahoe County is where the demand and the public money sit: the county coroner recorded 197 accidental overdose deaths in 2024, and the county’s own opioid abatement council names sober living among the things it pays for.
What follows is the Aurora picture: how the Unified Development Ordinance classifies a recovery residence, what the city has and has not put on its books, which desk issues what, what a house costs on this side of the county line, and the agencies that keep beds full here. Statewide rules, the ORH-C certification process, and the full startup and revenue models belong to the Colorado guide, and the figures this page shares with it are restated rather than recalculated. Only the lines Aurora actually changes, the lease anchor, the purchase anchor, the mortgage, and the property tax, are adjusted here.
Before you read onHow to Open a Sober Living Home in ColoradoThis post covers one piece of the process. The complete Colorado guide walks through every step, from planning to your first resident.→Is Aurora a Good Place to Open a Sober Living Home?
Yes, on the zoning, and with more care on the referral side. Aurora is one of the easier large cities in Colorado to site a recovery residence in, because a six-bed home is a permitted use in every residential district with no hearing, no separation requirement, and no conditional-use permit. The caveats are real: the county line runs through the middle of the metro and unincorporated Arapahoe County treats group housing very differently, the public referral pipeline is gated behind certification, and Colorado replaces certification with a mandatory state license on July 1, 2027.
Recovery Housing Demand in Arapahoe County
Residents reach an Aurora recovery residence through four pipelines, and each one behaves differently. Knowing which of them a home is built to serve decides where it should sit and who its first three phone calls go to.
- Treatment and hospital discharge: Aurora holds the Anschutz Medical Campus, The Medical Center of Aurora, and the metro’s largest community behavioral health provider, and all three discharge people who have nowhere stable to go.
- The courts and community supervision: The 18th Judicial District runs recovery, wellness, veterans, and sobriety courts out of Arapahoe County, and community corrections steps people down from residential placements into the community.
- The homelessness response: Aurora counted 697 people experiencing homelessness in the 2024 point-in-time count, and alcohol or substance use was the single most cited contributing factor at 26 percent.
- Veterans: The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center sits inside Aurora, runs residential substance use treatment, and contracts community beds for veterans leaving it.
Six figures come up in every conversation with an Arapahoe County lender, landlord, or discharge planner. Have them in front of you before the first call, because two of them, the coroner count and the county settlement allocation, are the ones a referral partner uses to decide whether a new home is needed here at all.
| Indicator | Aurora figure | Why it matters to an operator |
|---|---|---|
| Accidental overdose deaths, Arapahoe County | 197 in 2024, down from 211 in 2023; fentanyl was present in 118 and methamphetamine in 105 | The first decline after four straight years of increase, and still a rate of 29.5 per 100,000. Demand is not falling fast enough to change the bed math. |
| People experiencing homelessness, Aurora | 697 in the 2024 point-in-time count, 326 of them unsheltered | Alcohol or substance use was the top self-reported cause at 26 percent, which is the population most county-funded placements come from. |
| People experiencing homelessness, Arapahoe County | 650 in the 2024 count, 405 unsheltered, with substance use cited by 29 percent | Four in ten were chronically homeless, so a home taking county placements should expect longer stays and heavier case-management contact. |
| Population | Aurora 410,053, Arapahoe County 673,820 (2025 estimates) | Colorado’s third largest city, inside a county of more than 670,000. The catchment supports several homes without competing for the same referral desk. |
| Opioid settlement dollars under local control | more than $6 million allocated by the Arapahoe County Region 9 council since 2022, with sober living named as a funded category | The one pot of public money in this county that explicitly contemplates recovery housing. It is awarded by solicitation, not by application at will. |
| Rail service inside the city | Eight of the R Line’s 16 stations are in Aurora, and the line carried 1.3 million riders in 2024 | Residents without a car can hold a job and get to meetings. Distance to a station is the single biggest difference between two otherwise identical houses. |
Colorado scores 6 out of 10 on the Operating Climate Index and is classified Moderately Regulated, with a Market Strength sub-index of 8 out of 10, one of the strongest readings in the composite (Foote, 2026). Market Strength is a rubric score rather than a measurement, and Aurora is a large part of what earns Colorado that reading: a metro of this size, with rail through its residential core and a county that funds placements, is where the demand the sub-index describes actually shows up. The weaker readings elsewhere in the composite, notably Resident Funding Access at 4 out of 10, are the reason a home here cannot plan on public dollars covering rent.
Certification is voluntary in name only. Under C.R.S. § 27-80-129, a licensed provider may not refer a person to an uncertified home, and an uncertified home may not describe itself as a recovery residence, a sober living facility, or a sober home. In Aurora, where treatment discharge and the courts are the two largest referral pipelines, that makes ORH-C certification the gate on nearly every bed that is not private pay.
Most people ask whether they are allowed to open a recovery home. The better first question is whether the need and the money are there. This answers both, for your state.
- How many people need a bed, and how few beds exist
- Who actually pays the rent, and which programs are real
- What it costs to open on the purchase path and the lease path
How to Open a Sober House in Aurora: Step-by-Step
The statewide sequence lives in the Colorado guide. This version is ordered for Aurora, and the reordering comes down to one thing: in most cities the zoning check is the hard gate, and in Aurora it is not. The gate here is the jurisdiction line. A house two blocks outside the city boundary sits in unincorporated Arapahoe County, where group housing can require a public hearing and a 750-foot separation, and that changes the deal entirely. So the boundary check comes first, before the property, before the entity, before any money moves. Plan on six to ten months from first search to first resident.
Ten steps, in the order an Aurora operator actually runs them.
Step 1. Confirm the Address Is Inside Aurora, Then Check Its Zone
Start with the city’s Aurora Zoning map, which returns the zone district for a specific parcel, and cross-check the address in the Property Information Map. If the parcel returns an Aurora zone district, a group home of six or fewer residents is permitted by right there. If it returns nothing, the address is in unincorporated Arapahoe County and a different code applies, one that can put the same house in front of a public hearing.
At the block level there is less to check in Aurora than in most cities. The UDO carries no separation requirement between recovery residences, and no registry of existing homes to measure against. What the city does enforce is AMC 22-637, which sets a floor of 150 square feet of floor area per occupant, and that is a house-by-house calculation rather than a neighborhood one. The occupancy cap Aurora’s code still prints, four unrelated persons, has been preempted since House Bill 24-1007 took effect on July 1, 2024.
Colorado guideColorado Zoning, Fair Housing, and Land Use Laws for Sober LivingWhere sober homes can operate in Colorado and the legal protections that apply.→Step 2. Form the Entity and Register With the City
The entity signs the lease or holds the deed, never the operator personally. Colorado charges $50 for Articles of Organization filed online, $20 for a trade name, and $25 for the annual periodic report, with a $50 late fee, so year one runs between $70 and $95 depending on whether a trade name is filed. Get the EIN and open the business bank account before the first resident pays anything, because commingling the first month of rent is the error that takes the longest to unwind.
Aurora issues business licenses through its Tax and Licensing Division, and the city’s own group home guidance notes that a recovery residence may need one because most are run by a business or nonprofit entity. The license is issued for a two-year term rather than annually. There is no residential rental license in Aurora today; the city council directed staff in June 2026 to research a rental registration program, with a target launch in 2027, so this is a requirement to watch rather than one to budget for now.
Colorado guideHow to Form a Legal Entity for a Sober Living Business in ColoradoLLC, nonprofit, or both: how Colorado operators structure the business and the property.→Step 3. Choose the Property and Price the Two Anchors
Aurora’s code does not ask a recovery residence to look like anything in particular, but two tests still decide whether a house works. The city’s per-occupant floor-area rule sets the hard ceiling on beds, and the county’s single-housekeeping-unit test governs if the address turns out to be outside city limits. A house that reads as a shared home rather than a set of rented rooms satisfies both.
- Floor area of at least 150 square feet per occupant, which is what sets the real bed ceiling under AMC 22-637 rather than any zoning rule.
- Bedrooms that were permitted as bedrooms, with egress, because a finished basement room added without a permit is the most common defect in Aurora’s postwar stock.
- One kitchen and shared common space used in common, not separate locking units, which is what keeps the house inside the household definition rather than the rooming house category.
- A single lease or license structure covering the household, rather than individually negotiated room rentals, which is the distinction the county code turns on.
Two figures drive the budget from here. On the lease path, the HUD FY2027 fair market rent for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro, effective October 1, 2026, is $2,846 for a three-bedroom and $3,183 for a four-bedroom, and that is the number to test any landlord’s quote against. On the purchase path, the median sale price in Aurora for August 2026 was $525,000, with the county-wide single-family figure at $600,000. Both feed the cost table further down this page.
Colorado guideSober Living Startup Costs in ColoradoEvery one-time cost to open, on the lease path and the purchase path, with the Colorado figures behind each line.→Step 4. Clear Alarms, Fire, and the Certificate of Occupancy
Aurora has adopted the 2021 International Residential Code at AMC 22-181 and the 2021 International Fire Code, and neither carries an Aurora amendment aimed at recovery housing. What applies to a six-bed home is what applies to any dwelling here: smoke alarms under IRC R314 and carbon monoxide alarms under IRC R315, plus Colorado’s own alarm statute. The ORH-C inspection then checks the same systems against the NARR standard, which is why the alarm work is cheaper done once, properly, before the application goes in.
The certificate of occupancy is where converted houses fail. Aurora’s AMC 22-343 recognizes uses established under legally issued certificates of occupancy, which means an unpermitted bedroom conversion by a prior owner is the current owner’s problem to resolve. Settle it with the Building Division before scheduling anything else, because adding a permitted sleeping room independently triggers the carbon monoxide alarm duty under Colorado law. The code citations sit in the fire and building section below.
Step 5. Write the Governing Documents Before You Apply
ORH-C reviews written policy at application, not after opening, and a home that writes its documents under the pressure of a first incident writes them badly. Prepare the resident agreement, the house rules, the fee and refund schedule, the medication policy covering self-administration, the grievance and appeal process required by statute, and the discharge policy. Add the one most templates leave out: a neighbor-relations plan naming who answers the phone when a neighbor calls, and what that person says. Aurora has no complaint-driven review process for recovery residences, which means the first call goes to the operator rather than to a city desk.
Keep readingHouse Rules in Sober HousesThe rules that keep a recovery home safe, structured, and worth living in.→Step 6. Quote Insurance on the Specific Address
The Colorado cost model prices general liability at $3,900 a year and property coverage at $3,742 on the purchase path, and neither figure survives contact with a specific address unquoted. Ask the carrier three things: whether the policy contemplates a shared residence with unrelated occupants, whether it covers the house mentor as a resident rather than an employee, and what the hail deductible is, because the Front Range hail exposure is what moves a Colorado property premium more than the recovery use does. Bind before closing or before the lease starts, not after. A policy that does not contemplate the use is the one that fails at claim time.
Step 7. Recruit and Move In the House Mentor
The live-in house mentor is what makes a NARR Level II home a Level II home rather than a rooming house with rules: someone in recovery, living in the house, holding the structure day to day. Recruit through the Denver-area AA central office, the Mile High NA area, and Advocates for Recovery Colorado rather than through a job board. Put the arrangement in writing, covering the bed, the responsibilities, and the terms on which it ends. Move the mentor in before the first resident arrives, and carry the mentor’s bed as unpaid in the budget, because the state revenue model already does.
Step 8. Certify With ORH-C
Certification is voluntary as a matter of law and close to compulsory as a matter of business. Colorado contracts Ohio Recovery Housing – Colorado (ORH-C) as the approved certifying body, and under C.R.S. § 27-80-129 an uncertified home cannot take a referral from a licensed provider or use the words recovery residence in its own marketing. ORH-C certifies NARR Levels I through III. Budget $500 a year for organizational affiliation and $100 per bed a year for the residence inspection, and allow up to three months from application to inspection.
- Apply online at the NARR support level the home will operate at, with the written policies from Step 5 attached.
- Clear document review and pay the affiliation and per-bed fees.
- Pass the onsite inspection and operator interview, then receive board approval.
Step 9. Open the Referral Doors Before You Open the House
Publicly funded placement in this region runs through Signal Behavioral Health Network, the administrative services organization for Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, and Douglas counties, and through the county’s own opioid abatement council. Discharge planners at Anschutz, The Medical Center of Aurora, Aurora Mental Health and Recovery, and Comitis place people the same week they meet them, and they place into homes they already know. Call the partners in the table below while the house is still being painted, invite three of them to tour it, and get listed on OwnPath once certification lands. Those weeks cost nothing before the mortgage starts and are the most expensive weeks in the year to lose afterwards.
Step 10. Open and Hold Occupancy Through the First Quarter
The Colorado reference model breaks even near 48 percent occupancy on a 14-bed home, which is the number that tells an operator how much runway the first quarter really has. Fill deliberately rather than quickly: two or three residents a month, each one interviewed, is what protects the culture that keeps the other beds full. Run the house meeting weekly from the first week, track occupancy daily rather than monthly, and send a short note to every referral partner each month saying how many beds are open. That note is the cheapest marketing in this business.
Keep readingHow Sober Houses Fill Beds and Stay FullProven occupancy strategies from established recovery housing operators.→The phases below assume a lease path and a house that needs no structural work.
| Phase | Weeks (estimated) | What gets done |
|---|---|---|
| Boundary, zone, and property search | 4 to 10 weeks | Confirm jurisdiction for each candidate address, check zone districts, run the floor-area math, and shortlist houses. |
| Entity, lease or closing, and insurance | 4 to 8 weeks | File with the Secretary of State, obtain the EIN and bank account, apply for the city business license, bind coverage, and sign. |
| Alarms, occupancy, documents, and mentor | 4 to 8 weeks | Resolve any certificate of occupancy issue, install and test alarms, write the governing documents, and move the house mentor in. |
| ORH-C application through first residents | 10 to 16 weeks | Submit the application, complete document review, pass the inspection, and admit the first residents while approval is pending. |
Timelines are estimated. What adds months in Aurora is rarely the city. It is an unresolved certificate of occupancy on a converted house, and the ORH-C review window, which the certifying body itself describes as running up to three months from application to inspection.
Best Neighborhoods for a Sober Living Home in Aurora
A workable Aurora address passes four tests, and they are not the tests a residential buyer would apply. Nothing here turns on the zone district, because the zoning permits the use citywide.
- Bedroom count in the existing stock: Aurora’s postwar core is dominated by three-bedroom ranches, so reaching six or more beds usually means a basement finish and a permit rather than a bigger offer.
- Walking distance to rail: Residents arriving from treatment or the courts frequently have no car and no license. A house within a mile of an R Line station is a different business from one four miles out.
- The county line: Aurora’s boundary is irregular and interleaves with unincorporated Arapahoe County and with Adams and Douglas counties. Two similar houses a mile apart can sit under different codes.
- Metro district and covenant overlay: Aurora’s newer subdivisions sit inside metropolitan districts whose levies can roughly double a property tax bill, and carry covenants the city does not administer.
Six areas follow, named as the city names them in its own neighborhood boundaries. Housing mix is from the American Community Survey five-year estimates for the tract containing each area, and station distances are measured to the named RTD station.
| Area | Housing stock and transit | Siting notes for a sober living home |
|---|---|---|
| Hoffman Heights and Jewell Heights | Ninety-four percent single-family detached and 70 percent built in the 1950s, overwhelmingly three-bedroom, with a median of six rooms (ACS 2020-2024). Half a mile to 13th Avenue Station on the R Line, with Colfax routes 15 and 15L, plus routes 6, 10, and 20 within walking distance. | The strongest combination in the city: near-pure single-family fabric within walking distance of rail. The risk is bed count. These are postwar ranches, and reaching six or more beds means finishing a basement, which means permits, egress under IRC R310, and a new carbon monoxide alarm duty. |
| Aurora Hills | Ninety-four percent single-family detached, built mostly in the 1960s and 1970s, with 31 percent four-bedroom and 29 percent five-bedroom or larger, and a median of 7.9 rooms, the largest houses of any central Aurora tract (ACS 2020-2024). Seven tenths of a mile to Aurora Metro Center Station. | The best physical fit in Aurora: six in ten houses already carry four or more bedrooms, so the bed count comes without a renovation. The risk is price and attention, since this is the highest-value single-family pocket in the 80012 core and the most settled owner-occupant blocks in it. |
| Village East | Seventy-one percent single-family detached and 48 percent built in the 1970s, with 36 percent four-bedroom and 10 percent five-bedroom or larger (ACS 2020-2024). A mile and a half to Florida Station, with route 121 on Peoria Street the only bus within half a mile. | Nearly half the housing stock already has four or more bedrooms, in post-1978 construction that avoids the lead-paint renovation problem. The risk is mobility: a resident without a car depends on a single bus route to reach rail. |
| Utah Park | Sixty-two percent single-family detached and 80 percent single-unit overall, with 73 percent built in the 1970s and 29 percent four-bedroom (ACS 2020-2024). Four tenths of a mile to Florida Station, the shortest walk to rail of any mainly single-family tract in the city, plus route 11 on Mississippi Avenue. | The transit answer for a house serving residents arriving from treatment without a vehicle, and the attached-townhome share gives a second product type to consider. The risk is uniformity: one dominant build era usually means one covenant pattern across the whole block. |
| North Aurora and Original Aurora | Half single-family detached, a third built in the 1950s, with 38 percent three-bedroom and only 11 percent at four bedrooms or more (ACS 2020-2024). A mile and eight tenths to Peoria Station, which is served by both the A and R Lines, with routes 15 and 15L on East Colfax and route 105 on Havana within half a mile. | The cheapest entry point in the city and the densest bus service, in the part of Aurora closest to the treatment and shelter network. The risk is the stock itself: most houses need a permitted bedroom conversion to reach six beds, and pre-1978 construction brings lead and asbestos into any renovation. |
| Seven Hills | Ninety-seven percent single-family detached with no multifamily at all, built in the 1980s and 1990s, 60 percent three-bedroom and a third at four bedrooms or more (ACS 2020-2024). Three and three tenths of a mile to Iliff Station, with route 133 on Hampden the only bus service. | The newest code-era stock in the candidate set, which means the fewest surprises behind the drywall. Two risks sit together here: the house needs vehicles, and subdivisions of this vintage sit inside metropolitan districts whose levies can double the property tax line in the pro forma below. |
Three house features decide the deal anywhere in Aurora, whichever area the address sits in.
- Permitted bedrooms with egress: The bed ceiling is set by floor area and by what the city recognizes as a legal sleeping room, not by the zoning district.
- One shared kitchen and common space: Separate cooking or locking arrangements move the house toward the rooming house category and away from the household reading the code gives a group home.
- Off-street parking for three or four vehicles: Aurora has no parking requirement for a group home, but on-street crowding is what turns an indifferent block into an organized one.
- A basement that can be finished legally: In a city built on three-bedroom ranches, the difference between a four-bed home and an eight-bed home is usually a permitted basement, priced before the offer rather than after.
Aurora’s boundary interleaves with three counties and several neighboring jurisdictions, each running its own code. Denver sits immediately west under Denver’s zoning and its own occupancy math, and Colorado Springs to the south answers to El Paso County rather than to anything in this guide. A house in unincorporated Arapahoe County, which can begin a block outside the city line, falls under the county test set out further down this page.
- ✓Room-by-room requirements for a Level II home
- ✓Zoning and occupancy questions to ask before you tour
- ✓The red flags that should end a showing early
Who Regulates Sober Living Homes in Aurora?
No single agency regulates a sober living home in Aurora, which is why operators get contradictory answers depending on who they call. Seven bodies each control one piece: the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration holds licensure, ORH-C holds certification, Aurora’s Planning and Business Development department holds zoning, the Building Division and Aurora Fire Rescue hold life safety, the Tax and Licensing Division holds the business license, Arapahoe County holds land use outside city limits, and the county opioid abatement council holds the local public money. The city itself publishes the clearest statement of its own position, telling residents that group homes and recovery residences are allowed in all residential zone districts.
A sober living home is a shared residence where people in recovery live together under house rules, pay their own rent, and get no clinical treatment on site. That last clause is what keeps it outside state licensure: C.R.S. § 27-50-501(1)(a) makes it unlawful to run a behavioral health entity without a BHA license, and a home crosses that line the moment it delivers assessment, counseling, withdrawal management, or medication administration rather than housing.
| Layer | Agency | What it controls for a sober living home |
|---|---|---|
| State licensure | Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) | No operating license for a non-clinical recovery residence through June 30, 2027. Senate Bill 26-113 makes a BHA license mandatory from July 1, 2027. A home delivering clinical services needs a behavioral health entity license today. |
| State certification | Ohio Recovery Housing – Colorado (ORH-C) | C.R.S. § 27-80-129(3) bars a licensed provider from referring to an uncertified home and protects the terms recovery residence, sober living facility, and sober home. |
| City zoning | Aurora Planning and Business Development | Permits a Group Home, FHAA of six or fewer residents in every residential zone district, and seven or more in R-2 and above, with no separation requirement. |
| City building and life safety | Aurora Building Division and Aurora Fire Rescue (AFR) | Enforces the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Fire Code, issues the certificate of occupancy, and inspects group homes on a biennial cycle. |
| City licensing and tax | Aurora Tax and Licensing Division | Issues the business license a recovery residence operated by a business or nonprofit entity is expected to hold, on a two-year term. |
| County land use outside city limits | Arapahoe County Planning and Land Development Division | Applies the county Land Development Code in unincorporated areas, where group housing that is not a state-licensed group home can require special review and a public hearing. |
| County public money and referrals | Arapahoe County Region 9 Opioid Abatement Council | Allocates the county’s opioid settlement share and names sober living among its funded categories, by solicitation rather than open application. |
For an operator deciding what to worry about first, it reduces to four lines.
- State license: Not required for a non-clinical recovery residence through June 30, 2027, and required statewide from July 1, 2027.
- City license: Aurora expects a business license for a home run by a business or nonprofit entity, issued for two years. There is no residential rental license today.
- Certification: ORH-C certification is voluntary in law and required in practice, because it controls provider referrals and the use of the words recovery residence.
- Referrals: County-funded and court-ordered placements run through Signal Behavioral Health Network and the 18th Judicial District, and both expect a certified home.
Licensing is the easy part in Colorado today, and certification is the expensive part. Zoning, which constrains operators in most large cities, constrains almost nothing in Aurora, and the reason is worth understanding before signing anything, because the rule that appears to limit a house here no longer does.
Aurora Zoning Laws for Sober Living Homes
Aurora has no sober living ordinance, no spacing or separation requirement between recovery residences, no conditional-use permit for a group home, and no resident cap it can lawfully enforce. Its code still prints a four-unrelated-persons definition of family, and that definition has been preempted by state law since July 1, 2024. What governs instead is the Unified Development Ordinance’s group home category, a per-occupant floor-area rule, and two Colorado statutes that together put a recovery residence on the same footing as any other dwelling in the same zone.
How the Aurora UDO Treats a Sober Living Home
The UDO does carry a group home category, and a recovery residence falls inside it. Five definitions decide the classification, and only the first two matter for a house of ordinary size.
- Group Home, FHAA: Defined at UDO 146-6.2.G as a dwelling where people live together with staff as a single housekeeping unit, for the exclusive use of people protected by the Fair Housing Act Amendments. Small means no more than six residents; large means seven or more.
- Where it is permitted: Under UDO 146-3.3.2.N, an FHAA group home may be established in any residential zone district, or any mixed-use or planned development district permitting dwellings. The permitted-use table shows small homes permitted in every residential district including R-1, and large homes permitted in R-2 and above.
- Family or family group: Defined at UDO 146-6.2.F as not more than four unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit, with a separate clause for people whose group living rights are protected by the Fair Housing Act Amendments. The four-person half of that definition is unenforceable, for the reason set out below.
- Rooming house: Defined at UDO 146-6.2.R as a residential building where lodging is provided for compensation to two or more people who are not members of the family, usually for a month or more. It is conditional in R-2 and permitted in R-3 and R-4, so a house structured as separate room rentals lands in a narrower set of districts than a household does.
- Congregate living facility: Defined at UDO 146-6.2.C and subject to a 300-foot setback from any school or commercial daycare. This is the rule operators most often assume applies to them. It does not: a Group Home, FHAA is a different use category and carries no setback.
A house is read as a household when the people in it live as one: shared kitchen, shared common space, one agreement covering the group, no separately locking units. It becomes exposed when it is structured as a set of individually rented rooms, because that is the rooming house definition and it narrows the districts available. Aurora has already taken a public position on the question. Its code enforcement group home guidance states that group homes and recovery residences are allowed in all residential zone districts and that no council action is required, which is an unusually clear statement for a city of this size to publish.
One Aurora rule does bind, and it is not a zoning rule. AMC 22-637 makes it unlawful to let anyone occupy a dwelling with less than 150 square feet of floor space per occupant. That is the number that sets the bed ceiling in a given house, and it is the calculation to run before making an offer, not after.
What the Four-Unrelated-Persons Rule No Longer Does
The rule operators quote wrongly in Aurora is the one printed in the city’s own code: not more than four unrelated persons. It is still there, in the Occupancy Standards brochure as well as the UDO, and it has had no legal force since the middle of 2024. Two state statutes carry the actual position.
- C.R.S. § 29-20-111: Added by House Bill 24-1007, effective July 1, 2024, it states that a local government shall not limit the number of people who may live together in a single dwelling based on familial relationship. Health and safety standards, including building and fire code, are expressly preserved.
- C.R.S. § 31-23-303(2)(b.7): Added by Senate Bill 24-048, it makes a recovery residence a residential use of property for zoning purposes, subject only to the regulations applying to like dwellings in the same zone. A city cannot write a rule that reaches a recovery residence and not the house next door.
- What still limits occupancy: The preemption reaches familial-relationship caps, not health and safety rules. Aurora’s 150 square feet per occupant standard survives it, and the state’s own implementation guidance confirms that building and fire code and affordable-housing program guidelines are outside the bar.
The deeper protection does not come from the Colorado statutes at all. It comes from disability status under the federal Fair Housing Act, which reaches people in recovery from substance use disorder, and from the duty to grant a reasonable accommodation where one is needed for equal use and enjoyment of a dwelling. That is the doctrine an operator relies on when a local rule bites, and requesting a reasonable accommodation in writing is the procedural step most operators skip until it is too late to take calmly.
Keep readingThe Federal Fair Housing Act and Sober Living: Everything You Need to KnowThe federal protections every operator, neighbor, and local official should understand.→House Bill 24-1007 and Aurora’s Unamended Code
The regulatory action shaping Aurora today was not taken by Aurora. House Bill 24-1007 was signed on April 15, 2024 and took effect on July 1, 2024, adding C.R.S. § 29-20-111 to state law. It does three things an operator here should be able to state.
- It bars any local limit on how many people may live together in a dwelling based on familial relationship.
- It preserves local health and safety standards, including building and fire code and water and wastewater rules.
- It leaves affordable-housing program occupancy guidelines untouched.
What did not change on that date is Aurora’s code text. The four-unrelated-persons definition at UDO 146-6.2.F was last amended by Ordinance 2020-37 in October 2020, and the residential-uses section at 146-3.3.2 was last amended by Ordinance 2022-32 in July 2022. Neither has been touched since the preemption. A search of the Aurora Municipal Code and Unified Development Ordinance full text, the city council legislation and agenda record, the planning and EngageAurora pages, and the city’s code enforcement publications, run on September 19, 2026, found no Aurora ordinance, resolution, or planning commission action specific to sober living homes or recovery residences at any point from 2023 to that date. The governing authority sits above the city, in the statutes and in the case law that reaches Colorado.
- Bangerter v. Orem City Corp., 46 F.3d 1491 (10th Cir. 1995): The leading Tenth Circuit authority on group homes and the Fair Housing Act Amendments: restrictions imposed on housing for people with disabilities because of that disability require justification, and the decision binds Colorado municipalities.
- Cinnamon Hills Youth Crisis Center v. Saint George City, 685 F.3d 917 (10th Cir. 2012): Sets the boundary of the accommodation duty: an accommodation must be necessary to equal opportunity, and the court held that it cannot create opportunities unavailable to anyone else, disabled or not.
- Colorado Department of Local Affairs guidance on House Bill 24-1007 (2024): The state’s implementation guidance to local governments, which confirms that occupancy limits based on familial relationship are no longer enforceable while health and safety standards remain.
For an operator opening in Aurora this year, the practical position is better than in almost any comparable city, and it is worth documenting rather than assuming.
- Print the zone district result for the address from the city’s zoning map and keep it in the property file.
- Run the 150 square feet per occupant calculation on the actual floor plan and keep the arithmetic with it.
- If any city staff member raises the four-unrelated-persons language, cite C.R.S. § 29-20-111 and C.R.S. § 31-23-303(2)(b.7) in writing rather than arguing it at the counter.
Unincorporated Arapahoe County: The Type B Group Home Test
Aurora’s boundary is irregular, and unincorporated pockets of Arapahoe County sit close to the city’s southern and eastern edges. The county Land Development Code is stricter than Aurora’s in a way that matters, because it defines a group home around state licensure rather than around the Fair Housing Act.
- Family: Defined in the county code as an individual or people related by blood, marriage, or adoption under one head of household, or a group of people, who need not be related, living as a single housekeeping unit. There is no numeric cap on unrelated occupants.
- Group home: Defined as a residential structure providing non-institutional housing for four to eight people acting as a single housekeeping unit and licensed by the state. A home that is not state-licensed is not a group home under this definition, which is what leaves an unlicensed recovery residence inside the family category as a by-right residential use.
- Type B group housing: Everything the county calls other forms of group housing requires a public hearing and use by special review, and group homes generally may not sit within 750 feet of another. A home that presents as an operated facility rather than a household is the one that gets read into this category, so the practical instruction outside city limits is to confirm the county’s reading in writing before signing.
How your home gets classified, where Fair Housing applies, and what to do if the city says no.
Aurora Fire and Building Code Rules for Sober Living Homes
A single-family sober living home in Aurora is a dwelling under the 2021 International Residential Code, adopted at AMC 22-181, and the 2021 International Fire Code adopted at AMC 66-26. Nothing in Aurora’s adoption singles out recovery housing. Three points decide what the building and fire authorities actually ask of a house.
- Where the residential code stops: The residential code governs one- and two-family dwellings with a small number of lodgers; above that threshold the building code’s institutional and residential occupancy classifications take over. Aurora adopted the 2021 codes without a local amendment on this point, so the unamended model code text controls rather than an Aurora-specific rule.
- Certificate of occupancy: Aurora recognizes uses established under legally issued certificates of occupancy, and the Development Center requires every applicable building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and life safety inspection before one is issued. A bedroom added by a previous owner without a permit is the buyer’s problem, and the Building Permit Center is where it gets resolved.
- What Aurora Fire Rescue inspects: AFR inspects commercial and institutional occupancies on a risk-based cycle, listing group homes on a biennial schedule and boarding houses annually, with primary inspections scheduled automatically and unannounced. A single-family dwelling is not on that cycle, which is exactly why the alarm work gets skipped.
Alarms are where first-time operators fall short of both the code and the ORH-C inspection, and the requirements below apply to every dwelling in Aurora whether or not anyone comes to look.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke alarms | Required in each sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms, and on every storey including basements, interconnected so that all sound together. | IRC 2021 Section R314, adopted at AMC 22-181 |
| Carbon monoxide alarms | Required outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms in dwellings with fuel-fired appliances or an attached garage. | IRC 2021 Section R315, adopted at AMC 22-181 |
| Carbon monoxide alarms, state duty | An operational alarm must sit within fifteen feet of the entrance to each room lawfully used for sleeping. For a rental, the duty attaches on every change in tenant occupancy, and the owner must replace missing alarms and supply batteries before the new occupant moves in. | C.R.S. §§ 38-45-102 and 38-45-104 |
| Adding a sleeping room | Permitted interior alterations, repairs, appliance replacement, or the addition of a sleeping room independently trigger the carbon monoxide alarm requirement, which is what makes a basement bedroom conversion an alarm job as well as a framing job. | C.R.S. § 38-45-102(2) |
| Certificate of occupancy before occupancy | All applicable inspections, including the final life safety inspection run by the Building Division, must be complete before a certificate of occupancy is issued. | Aurora Development Center |
| Floor area per occupant | At least 150 square feet of floor space for each occupant of a dwelling unit, which functions as the enforceable occupancy limit in Aurora now that familial-relationship caps are preempted. | AMC 22-637 |
Nobody will prompt a single-family home in Aurora to comply. There is no annual inspection cycle for a dwelling, no rental license today, and no complaint process specific to recovery residences, so the burden sits entirely with the operator until the ORH-C inspector arrives and checks the same systems against the NARR standard. Fire safety in sober living homes sets out how the alarm and sprinkler questions are decided in practice, and the bed math itself is a floor-area calculation rather than a code question.
Alarms, egress, extinguishers, and the documentation an inspector expects on file.
Get the checklist freeNo cost, no obligation. Unsubscribe in one click.How Much Does It Cost to Open a Sober House in Aurora?
The Colorado reference model prices a 14-bed home at $37,590 to $70,263 all-in on the lease path and $154,478 to $189,446 on the purchase path, reserve included. That range is the floor here, and Aurora changes only two inputs in it: the lease anchor and the purchase anchor. Furnishings at $8,248, supplies at $1,237, utility deposits at $619, marketing at $515, and the ORH-C certification fee of $1,900 for a 14-bed residence hold at the state figures. Nothing below recalculates the model; it swaps the two local prices in and shows what moves.
| Line item | Aurora figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lease deposit, three months upfront | $9,549 estimated, at the metro four-bedroom fair market rent of $3,183 | HUD FY2027 fair market rent, Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro, effective October 1, 2026 |
| Purchase down payment, 20 percent | $113,400 estimated, on an adjusted price of $567,000 | Aurora median sale price of $525,000 for August 2026, plus the model’s 8 percent recovery-housing premium |
| Entity formation and state filing | $70 to $95 in year one | Colorado Secretary of State fee schedule |
| ORH-C certification, first year at 14 beds | $1,900, being $500 organizational affiliation plus $100 per bed | Ohio Recovery Housing – Colorado |
| Furniture, supplies, utility deposits, and launch marketing | $10,619 combined, held at the Colorado model | Colorado startup cost model, unchanged by location |
| Renovation and life-safety upgrades | $0 to $20,000, held at the Colorado model | 2021 International Residential Code and 2021 International Fire Code, adopted without a recovery-housing amendment |
| Operating reserve, three to six months | $14,736 to $29,472 estimated, on the adjusted monthly operating figure below | Derived from the adjusted pro forma in the next section |
| Every other one-time line | Held at the Colorado reference model | Colorado startup costs guide, linked in the card above |
Two lines turn the statewide budget into an Aurora budget, and both are property lines.
- Purchase path: Aurora’s August 2026 median sale price of $525,000 sits below the $552,333 statewide figure the model is built on. Carrying the model’s 8 percent recovery-housing premium forward gives an adjusted purchase price of $567,000 and a 20 percent down payment of $113,400, which is $5,904 less than the state model’s. Treat the resulting all-in purchase range of roughly $148,574 to $183,542 as estimated. It still excludes closing costs, any renovation beyond the $20,000 ceiling, and the first mortgage payment.
- Lease path: The lease path moves less. Three months upfront at the metro four-bedroom fair market rent of $3,183 gives $9,549 against the model’s $8,453, so the lease entry rises by about $1,096 rather than falling. The number that matters more is the rent itself: $2,846 for a three-bedroom and $3,183 for a four-bedroom is what a landlord’s quote should be tested against, and a quote materially above it needs a reason other than the use.
Two local programs reduce what a home spends, and neither is a startup grant.
- Arapahoe County Weatherization Assistance: Free energy audit, air sealing, insulation, furnace and water-heater safety testing, and furnace replacement where eligible, at no cost to the applicant, for owner-occupied and rented single-family homes in Arapahoe and Adams counties. A house whose residents receive SNAP, TANF, SSI, LEAP, or Old Age Pension qualifies automatically, and a rented house is eligible with the owner’s permission.
- Arapahoe County Region 9 Opioid Abatement Council: The county’s share of Colorado’s opioid settlement, more than $6 million allocated since 2022, with sober living and transitional safety zones named among the funded categories. Awards run through solicitations posted by the county rather than an open application window.
Neither is money to open on. Weatherization reduces a utility line after the house is running, and settlement dollars arrive by solicitation on the county’s schedule, not the operator’s. A search of the city’s grant programs, its housing and community development pages, its small business services, and the county’s grant and abatement council pages on September 19, 2026 found no Aurora or Arapahoe County grant or forgivable loan open to a for-profit residential operator for acquisition, furnishing, or operating costs. Plan the opening on capital that exists.
Colorado guideColorado Recovery Housing Funding: Why It Rarely Works the Way Operators ExpectBlock grants, opioid settlement dollars, Medicaid, and county contracts: what reaches a sober living home and what does not.→Is a Sober Living Home Profitable in Aurora?
Yes, on the purchase path, if occupancy holds. The Colorado reference model runs a 14-bed home at $930 per bed, $9,466 in total monthly revenue against $4,981 in monthly operating costs, for net operating income before owner’s labour of $4,485 and a breakeven near 48 percent occupancy. Aurora changes two inputs in that model and only two: the mortgage, because the local median is lower, and the property tax, because the mill levy here is higher.
The score is a statewide reading, and Aurora pushes it in both directions at once: a lower median price than the state model assumes, against a mill levy that is higher than most of Colorado. The table restates the state model line by line and adjusts only the two property lines, which are marked estimated.
| Line | Colorado reference model (14 beds) | Aurora adjustment (estimated) |
|---|---|---|
| Beds | 14 | Unchanged |
| Monthly rent per bed | $930 | Unchanged |
| Total monthly revenue | $9,466 | Unchanged |
| Mortgage payment | $3,016 | $2,867 estimated, on a $453,600 loan at 6.5 percent over 30 years, from the August 2026 Aurora median of $525,000 |
| Real estate tax | $255 | $335 estimated, at the 2026 certified mill levies for Aurora in Arapahoe County |
| General liability and property insurance | $637 | Unchanged |
| All other operating costs | $1,073 | Unchanged |
| Total monthly operating costs | $4,981 | $4,912 estimated |
| Net operating income before owner’s labour | $4,485 | $4,554 estimated |
| Per-bed margin | $320 | $325 estimated |
| Breakeven occupancy | 48 percent | 47 percent estimated |
The adjustment holds revenue, per-bed rent, and every non-property operating line constant, and moves only the mortgage and the tax. It is an estimate rather than a quote: a real property, a real rate, and a real levy will all differ. The net effect in Aurora is a slightly cheaper house carrying a slightly heavier tax, for a margin about $69 a month better than the state model and a breakeven roughly a point lower. Three local factors move the result further than the mortgage does.
- Occupancy, not price: Every bed held empty costs $930 a month, so a three-bed vacancy erases the entire advantage the lower Aurora purchase price creates. Referral relationships are worth more to this model than a better interest rate.
- The metro district levy: Newer Aurora subdivisions sit inside metropolitan districts with their own mills, and the 2026 certified levies show districts adding anywhere from 21 to 55 mills. A house inside one can carry roughly double the tax line above, which is a due-diligence item on every offer in the newer areas.
- Certification timing: Public and provider referrals are gated behind ORH-C certification, and the certifying body describes a turnaround of up to three months. Every month between opening and certification is a month filling beds privately at full carrying cost.
No real property matches a model. Finding out how far off yours sits takes a few minutes.
Will your property pencil out?
Get a custom projection for your Colorado property, then compare it with typical returns.
Get my projectionFree calculator with your property’s numbers.See Colorado profitabilityRealistic revenue, operating costs, and margins in Colorado.How to Get Residents for a Sober Living Home in Aurora
Publicly funded placement in this part of Colorado does not run through the state. It runs through the regional administrative services organization, the county, and the courts, and all three expect a certified home. Three doors open the pipeline.
- Colorado LIFTS, 1-844-265-4387: The statewide access line, answered for this region by Signal Behavioral Health Network as the behavioral health administrative services organization for Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, and Douglas counties. Its care access team screens callers and routes them to network providers and housing, and the OwnPath directory is where a certified home becomes visible to navigators.
- The Region 9 Opioid Abatement Council: Arapahoe County controls its own share of Colorado’s opioid settlement and names sober living and transitional safety zones among the categories it funds. Awards come through county solicitations, and a funded operator gets both the dollars and the county partner relationships that come with them.
- ORH-C certification: The standard behind every one of those doors. Under C.R.S. § 27-80-129 a licensed provider may not refer to an uncertified home, which in a city where treatment discharge is the largest single pipeline makes NARR affiliate certification the practical condition of a public referral relationship.
Twelve organizations place people into recovery housing in and around Aurora. Public agencies and the hospitals lead the list because they move the most people and they place the same week they assess.
| Organization | Type | How residents reach you |
|---|---|---|
| Signal Behavioral Health Network | Regional administrative services organization | Care access team at 844-265-4387 screens callers across four counties and routes them to network providers and housing. |
| Aurora Mental Health and Recovery | Community behavioral health provider | The crisis walk-in clinic on South Potomac Street and the addiction services program are the largest single discharge source in the city. |
| UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital | Hospital | Emergency department and inpatient discharge planners place patients who have no safe sober environment to return to. |
| The Medical Center of Aurora | Hospital | Behavioral health unit and emergency department case managers discharge patients post-withdrawal who need structured housing. |
| Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center | Federal agency | Residential substance use treatment and homeless-veteran programs discharge veterans into community recovery housing. |
| 18th Judicial District problem-solving courts | Court | Recovery, wellness, veterans, and sobriety court teams place participants who need structured sober housing as part of a phase plan. |
| Arapahoe County Community Corrections | County agency | Residential community corrections clients need approved transitional housing when they step down into the community. |
| Arapahoe County Public Health | County agency | Harm reduction and prevention point sites in Aurora connect participants to treatment and to housing. |
| Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, Comitis Crisis Center | Nonprofit | Low-barrier shelter on Victor Street with an opportunity for recovery unit that partners with UCHealth on post-discharge housing. |
| Aurora Regional Navigation Campus | City facility, nonprofit operated | Shelter, day services, and tiered housing navigation on East 40th Avenue, where navigators refer directly into sober housing. |
| Metro Denver Homeless Initiative and OneHome | Continuum of care lead | Coordinated entry assessments route households across the seven-county region toward available housing. |
| Advocates for Recovery Colorado | Recovery community organization | Peer coaches and recovery community centers refer members who need a bed, and are also where house mentors are recruited. |
Two more numbers belong on the wall of a new house. The Denver Area Central Committee of Alcoholics Anonymous answers a 24-hour line at 303-322-4440 and serves the whole Denver metro including Aurora, and the NA Mile High Area runs a call-or-text helpline at 303-832-3784. Residents use them, and so do operators filling a house mentor vacancy.
If you came here looking for a bed rather than a business plan, the rest of this page is the wrong shape for you, and there is a faster route.
Take the next step
Apply, browse homes, or search the national directory.
Apply onlineGet a call back within 24 hours.View VSL homesSee Chartered recovery homes and find the right fit.Search the national directoryCertified sober houses anywhere in the US.Or call (844) 762-3747, weekdays 8a to 5p.
Common Mistakes When Opening a Sober House in Aurora
These are the errors that show up in Aurora homes struggling in year one, and each of them happens at a specific point in the sequence above.
- Buying before confirming the jurisdiction: A house a block outside the city line answers to the Arapahoe County code, where group housing that is not a state-licensed group home can require special review and a public hearing, and carries a 750-foot separation. That is the single most expensive assumption available in this market.
- Reading the four-unrelated-persons rule as current: Aurora still prints it, and it has been preempted since July 1, 2024. Operators who plan a four-bed home around it leave two or three beds of revenue on the table for a rule the city cannot enforce.
- Assuming the 300-foot school setback applies: That setback attaches to a congregate living facility, not to a Group Home, FHAA. Ruling out otherwise workable addresses near a school narrows the search for no reason.
- Skipping the certificate of occupancy history: Aurora recognizes uses established under legally issued certificates of occupancy, and the postwar stock in the city core is full of basement bedrooms added without permits. The buyer inherits the problem, and it blocks both the inspection and the bed count.
- Treating certification as a later step: ORH-C describes up to three months from application to inspection, and a licensed provider cannot refer to an uncertified home. Applying after opening means carrying a full mortgage while the largest referral pipeline in the city stays closed.
- Budgeting the tax line off the statewide average: Aurora’s general mill levy already runs above the state model’s assumption, and a house inside one of the newer metro districts can carry roughly double that. Checking the levy for the specific parcel belongs in due diligence, not in the first year’s surprises.
The Colorado book and the Blueprint carry the templates, checklists, and filled-in worksheets behind every step above.
The book gives you the map to open a home. When you’re ready to launch, certify, and sustain, the Blueprint is the full playbook covering funding, legal, insurance, and operations.
Frequently Asked Questions About Opening a Sober House in Aurora
Do you need a license to open a sober living home in Aurora, Colorado?
No state operating license is required for a non-clinical sober living home in Colorado through June 30, 2027, and Aurora requires no land-use permit for a group home of six or fewer residents. What is required is certification by Ohio Recovery Housing – Colorado, because state law bars licensed providers from referring to an uncertified home. Senate Bill 26-113 makes a state license mandatory for every recovery residence from July 1, 2027, so a home opening now should expect to transition into licensure.
How many residents can live in a sober living home in Aurora?
Aurora permits a Group Home, FHAA of six or fewer residents by right in every residential zone district, and seven or more in R-2 districts and above. The binding limit on a specific house is floor area, not zoning: AMC 22-637 requires at least 150 square feet of floor space per occupant. The four-unrelated-persons cap still printed in the city code has been unenforceable since House Bill 24-1007 took effect on July 1, 2024.
Does Aurora have a sober living ordinance or a spacing requirement?
No. A search of the Aurora Municipal Code, the Unified Development Ordinance, the city council legislation record, and the planning and code enforcement pages on September 19, 2026 found no Aurora ordinance or planning action specific to sober living homes or recovery residences at any time from 2023 onward. The 300-foot setback from schools and daycare in the code applies to congregate living facilities, a different use category.
What does it cost to open a sober house in Aurora?
The Colorado reference model prices a 14-bed home at $37,590 to $70,263 all-in on the lease path and $154,478 to $189,446 on the purchase path, with reserves included. Aurora changes two lines: three months upfront at the metro four-bedroom fair market rent of $3,183 gives about $9,549 on the lease path, and a 20 percent down payment on an adjusted purchase price of $567,000 gives about $113,400. Both figures are estimates.
Can a sober living home operate in unincorporated Arapahoe County?
Yes, but under a different test. The county code defines a group home around state licensure, so an unlicensed recovery residence is not a group home there and falls instead under the family definition, which carries no cap on unrelated occupants. A home that reads as an operated facility rather than a household risks being classified as other forms of group housing, which requires special review, a public hearing, and 750 feet of separation.
Who refers residents to a sober living home in Aurora?
Treatment and hospital discharge is the largest pipeline, led by Aurora Mental Health and Recovery, UCHealth at Anschutz, The Medical Center of Aurora, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA. The 18th Judicial District problem-solving courts and Arapahoe County community corrections place people under supervision, and Signal Behavioral Health Network routes callers to the regional access line at 844-265-4387. All of these expect a certified home.
Your Aurora Sober House Startup Checklist
Every item below is covered somewhere on this page, and none of them is optional in Aurora. Work the list before signing anything, not after.
Four guides cover the parts of the job that are the same in every city.
How VSL Helps You Open a Sober House in Aurora
Vanderburgh Sober Living charters independently operated recovery homes into a cooperative network, where the operator keeps ownership of the business and gains the brand, the operating standards, and the startup and certification support of the Chartered Operator community. The points where that helps in Aurora are the ones this page kept returning to: reading a jurisdiction line correctly before an offer, running the floor-area math that sets the real bed count, getting the governing documents written to a NARR standard before an inspector reads them, and having referral relationships in place on the day the doors open rather than three months later.
There are two routes in. The Launchpad Program is the self-guided course for an operator who wants the sequence, the templates, and the worksheets and intends to run the work themselves. The Mastery Program is the done-with-you path, with structured coaching through zoning, certification, and the first residents. If the decision in front of you is a specific Aurora address, or whether to lease or buy in this market, that is a conversation worth having before the offer rather than after, and the get started page is the place to start it.
Start your sober house
Pick the path that fits where you are in the process.
Download the free guidePath to Purposeful Recovery Housing, by Dr. Hunter T. Foote.Explore the Mastery ProgramHands-on startup, certification, and operating support.See how starting with VSL worksThe opportunity, the community, and what a Charter includes.Prefer to talk now? Call (844) 762-3747, weekdays 8a to 5p.
Educational only; not legal, financial, or medical advice. Fees, rents, and rules change, and the Aurora adjustments above are estimates built on the Colorado reference model. Confirm current requirements with Aurora, Arapahoe County, and qualified professionals before you sign or spend.
Research & Sources
- Foote, H. T. (2026). Vanderburgh Sober Living Operating Climate Index, 2026 Edition. Vanderburgh Sober Living. https://www.vanderburghhouse.com/research/operating-climate-index-2026/
- City of Aurora. (2019). Unified Development Ordinance, Chapter 146, Section 6.2.G: Group home definitions. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-6.2.G
- City of Aurora. (2022). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 3.3.2: Residential uses and group home siting. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-3.3.2
- City of Aurora. (2022). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 3.3.2.N: Group home, FHAA. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-3.3.2.N
- City of Aurora. (2019). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 3.2: Permitted use table. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-3.2
- City of Aurora. (2020). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.2.F: Family or family group. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-6.2.F
- City of Aurora. (2019). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.2.R: Rooming house. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-6.2.R
- City of Aurora. (2019). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.2.C: Congregate living facility. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-6.2.C
- City of Aurora. (2019). Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.2.H: Household and household living. https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-6.2.H
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Aurora City Code Section 22-637: Occupancy, floor area per occupant. https://aurora.municipal.codes/Code/22-637
- City of Aurora. (2021). Aurora City Code Section 22-181: Adoption of the 2021 International Residential Code. https://aurora.municipal.codes/Code/22-181
- City of Aurora. (2021). Aurora City Code Section 66-26: Adoption of the 2021 International Fire Code. https://aurora.municipal.codes/Code/66-26
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Aurora City Code Section 22-343: Continued use and certificates of occupancy. https://aurora.municipal.codes/Code/22-343
- City of Aurora Building Division. (2026). Adopted building codes. https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/building_division/adopted_building_codes
- City of Aurora Development Center. (n.d.). Inspections and certificate of occupancy. https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/development_center/inspections___certificate_of_occupancy
- City of Aurora Code Enforcement. (2024). Group home frequently asked questions, version 6-20-24. https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_1881137/File/Residents/Code%20Enforcement/Group%20Home%20FAQ%20v6-20-24_Accessible.pdf
- Aurora Fire Rescue. (n.d.). Fire inspection schedule and risk-based inspection cycles. https://www.auroragov.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=16242704&pageId=21192703
- Aurora Fire Rescue. (n.d.). Life safety and fire prevention. https://www.auroragov.org/residents/public_safety/fire_rescue
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Aurora zoning map. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/078ba001cd384d63ba20d6e8c3ad1161
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Property information map. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/8c9ba519d701482a93d5bbac843e4afc
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Neighborhoods map. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/cf21fb8b1ed7495da64e424dc8e1b5c8
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Planning and development services. https://www.auroragov.org/city_hall/departments/planning___development_services
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Building division. https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/building_division
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Business licensing. https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/licenses___permits/business_licensing
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Small business services. https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/small_business_services
- City of Aurora. (2026). Housing rehabilitation programs. https://www.auroragov.org/residents/community_development/housing_rehabilitation_programs
- City of Aurora. (n.d.). Homelessness resources. https://www.auroragov.org/residents/community_development/homelessness_in_aurora/homelessness_resources
- Colorado General Assembly. (2024). House Bill 24-1007: Prohibit residential occupancy limits. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1007
- Colorado Department of Local Affairs. (2024). Guidance on House Bill 24-1007 concerning residential occupancy. https://cdola.colorado.gov/guidance-on-hb-24-1007-concerning-residential-occupancy
- Colorado General Assembly. (2024). Senate Bill 24-048: Recovery residences and residential zoning use. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-048
- Colorado Revised Statutes. (n.d.). C.R.S. Section 31-23-303: Municipal zoning and recovery residences. https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-31-government-municipal/co-rev-st-sect-31-23-303/
- Colorado Revised Statutes. (n.d.). C.R.S. Section 27-80-129: Recovery residences, certification and referral restrictions. https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_27-80-129
- Colorado Revised Statutes. (n.d.). C.R.S. Section 27-50-501: Behavioral health entity licensure. https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_27-50-501
- Colorado General Assembly. (2026). Senate Bill 26-113: Recovery residence licensure. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb26-113
- Colorado General Assembly. (2009). Session Laws chapter 51: Carbon monoxide alarms, C.R.S. Sections 38-45-101 to 38-45-106. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/2009a_sl_51.pdf
- Colorado Behavioral Health Administration. (2025). Certified recovery residences. https://bha.colorado.gov/certified-recovery-residences
- Ohio Recovery Housing – Colorado. (n.d.). Certification application, fees and process. https://corecoveryhousing.org/application/
- Colorado Secretary of State. (2024). Business filing fee schedule. https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/info_center/fees/business.html
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2026). Fair market rents, fiscal year 2027. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
- Colorado Association of REALTORS. (2026, September 15). Colorado housing market tips toward buyers as sales decline, prices hold firm. https://coloradorealtors.com/2026/09/15/colorado-housing-market-tips-toward-buyers-as-sales-decline-prices-hold-firm/
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). QuickFacts: Aurora city, Colorado. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/auroracitycolorado/PST045225
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). QuickFacts: Arapahoe County, Colorado. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/arapahoecountycolorado/PST045225
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey, 2020-2024 five-year estimates, table DP04. https://data.census.gov/
- Arapahoe County Coroner. (2025). Office of the coroner: 2024 annual report. https://files.arapahoeco.gov/Coroner/Office%20of%20the%20Coroner%20-%202024%20Annual%20Report.pdf
- Arapahoe County Public Health. (2024). Arapahoe County community health assessment. https://files.arapahoeco.gov/Public%20Health/Assessments%20And%20Plans/ACPH_Community_Health_Assessment_FNL_20240320%20(1).pdf
- Arapahoe County Public Health. (n.d.). Substance use and harm reduction services. https://www.arapahoeco.gov/your_county/county_departments/public_health_department/community_health/substance_use/index.php
- Arapahoe County Assessor. (2025). 2026 certification of levies and revenues. https://files.arapahoeco.gov/Assessor/Certification%20of%20Levies%20and%20Revenues/2026%20Certification%20of%20Levies%20and%20Revenues.pdf
