AI Tackles the Paperwork Problem Blocking America’s Housing Permits

For years, getting a building permit in Denver meant navigating a loop.

Incomplete application fields and missing data sent applications bouncing back and forth before a single formal review could begin. The city approved just 37% of applications on the first try. Now Denver is using artificial intelligence to push that number to 80%, Denver7 reported.

CivCheck Goes Live

In March, the City and County of Denver approved a five-year, $4.6 million contract with CivCheck, an AI-enabled plan review platform developed by Clariti. The tool automatically flags missing documents, incomplete fields and application errors before plans reach city reviewers, giving applicants the chance to correct problems before formal submission.

Robert Peek, director of development systems performance at the Denver Permitting Office, said the platform, implemented last month, aims to reduce the redundant review cycles that have long bottlenecked the process, Route Fifty reported. Human reviewers still evaluate final submitted plans.

The city has been working toward permitting reform for years. It launched the dedicated Denver Permitting Office last year and set a 180-day shot clock to deliver permit decisions, with a promise to refund developers up to $10,000 in application fees if that deadline was missed, the Denver7 report said. The city had already cut possession time for single-family and duplex projects by roughly 45% since 2023.

CivCheck is the next layer.

The launch came as Denver’s Community Planning and Development Department cut 59 budgeted positions for 2026, bringing its total to 251, The Denver Gazette reported.

The staffing reduction sharpens the case for tools that reduce administrative volume without adding headcount.

“Most plan review delays start upstream, when submissions enter the queue incomplete or inconsistent,” Julia Richman, vice president of government relations at Clariti, said in a statement. “CivCheck helps applicants identify issues earlier, reduces avoidable rework for staff, and preserves professional judgment and accountability in final decisions.”

Cities Scale the Same Approach

Denver isn’t alone. Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting launched CivCheck in December for residential permit applications, with commercial projects set to follow by mid-2026, Spectrum News reported. The tool checks applications for code compliance and document completeness at submission, cutting the back-and-forth between applicants and city staff.

Bruce Harrell, who was mayor of Seattle at the time, signed an executive order in June directing that all development applications move through an AI pilot program led by a dedicated Permitting and Customer Trust team, with full public rollout expected this year, GeekWire reported.

Austin also launched an AI tool in partnership with Archistar to expedite zoning review for residential developers, HousingWire reported.

The pattern across these cities points to the same constraint. Permitting delays stem less from the complexity of technical reviews than from application quality at intake. Catching errors before formal submission costs less than cycling incomplete applications through the review queue multiple times, and it doesn’t require additional staff.

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.