housing instability
Colorado’s laws historically have favored landlords over tenants. A bill at the Capitol could balance the scales.
Any time Cesiah Guadarrama Trejo’s phone rings early in the morning or late into the night, she knows it isn’t good. The calls to Guadarrama Trejo, who is associate state director for the working women’s advocacy group 9to5 Colorado, are almost always from panicked renters or mobile-home owners who are facing eviction or at risk of […]
Denver approves first funding for safe outdoor spaces for people experiencing homelessness
In July, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced he would allow people to live outdoors and promised that several temporary sanctioned camp sites would be established throughout the city. Now, eight months later, one nonprofit is getting the financial support to do so. Denver City Council on Tuesday awarded a nearly $900,000 contract to Colorado Village […]
Rising rents, stagnant wages leave many Colorado tenants struggling to meet basic needs
When Laura Rodriguez’s lease was up for renewal in the middle of the pandemic, she was informed by her landlord that her rent was increasing by $200 dollars a month. “We are now paying $1,800 and our landlord already announced that next August 2021 our rents will go up to $2,200 a month,” said Rodriguez, […]
Statewide eviction moratorium ordered by Gov. Polis
Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday issued an executive order establishing a 30-day statewide eviction moratorium after months of pressure from housing advocates and in response to recommendations put forth by his own Special Eviction Prevention Task Force. The order reaffirms and clarifies a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium. The state had previously […]
Polis issues rental late fee ban through 2020; statewide eviction moratorium still pending
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday announced an executive order banning forthcoming and accumulated late fees for Colorado renters through the end of the year in light of recommendations put forth by a state eviction prevention task force. The 10-person Special Eviction Prevention Task Force convened four times in September and October to establish short-term and […]
A special task force was asked to create eviction prevention policies. Will it only maintain the status quo?
Leanne Wheeler wasn’t surprised when she saw who Gov. Jared Polis appointed to be on his 10-person Special Eviction Prevention Task Force. “When I saw the list of characters, and looked at the bios of who was to be involved, I thought to myself, ‘This will just be a sanctioning of doing as little as […]
‘Way more students’: Spike in homelessness feared in Colorado school districts
During a typical academic school year, staff members are trained to spot warning signs of student homelessness: unwashed clothes, numerous missed days of school, drawings showing 20 or more people living in the same shelter space. Once identified, a student is referred to the state’s K-12 homeless education program, created by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless […]
Colorado ranked 9th in U.S. for gap between renters’ income and housing cost
Workers earning minimum wage in Colorado — many of whom have served as essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic — need to work a total of 71 hours per week to afford a fair market, one-bedroom rental home, according to a national study published on Tuesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a research […]