Gov. Polis extends order requiring 30-day eviction warning

Gov. Jared Polis has extended an executive order requiring Colorado landlords to give tenants a 30-day warning before initiating eviction proceedings for nonpayment of rent, as advocates continue to call for stronger action to prevent a looming eviction crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“To be Safer at Home, Coloradans impacted financially by COVID-19 must continue to have a home,” states Polis’s Executive Order D 2020 134, signed on July 12. “Many Coloradans continue to experience substantial loss of income as a result of business closures and layoffs, hindering their ability to keep up with their rent or mortgage payments through no fault of their own.”

The 30-day eviction warning required by the order extends the 10-day period currently required by Colorado law. Polis originally issued the order on June 13, declining to extend a previous executive order that placed a temporary statewide ban on evictions and foreclosures after Colorado’s Democratic-controlled legislature failed to pass a moratorium of its own. The governor’s office announced the extension of D 2020 134 on July 12.

A range of progressive groups and tenants’ rights advocates have continued to pressure Polis and local government officials to halt evictions. The city of Denver confirmed last week that it had resumed enforcing evictions as of July 1, and other counties in the Denver metro area have also announced an end to their eviction moratoria.

Almost one-third of U.S. households missed their housing payments in July, according to one estimate, and experts say that as many as 28 million Americans could face eviction in the coming months. An April analysis by the Colorado-based COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project estimated that roughly 460,000 Colorado tenants could be at risk of eviction in 2020.