As Colorado landlords closed in on a record 53,000 eviction filings in 2023, state housing officials told lawmakers they didn’t need $8 million in rental assistance funding approved by the state legislature.
The funding could have kept nearly 1,500 more families in their homes.
So in November, when the Polis administration asked to redirect the money to a migrant support program, it left housing advocates frustrated, and lawmakers furious.
“To just choose not to spend the money that this legislature has said over and over in multiple bills should be going out to help renters — to just say we’re not going to do it is extraordinarily disappointing and upsetting,” state Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, said at a Joint Budget Committee meeting this month.
The $8 million was never expected to be enough. The year before, as post-pandemic evictions were surging, Colorado officials spent twice that amount almost every month.
So at a time of record evictions, why wasn’t the state able to find renters who needed the money?
State officials told The Colorado Sun they received $26 million more from the federal government after the legislature approved the funding in March 2023. They also changed the program’s rules to restrict funding only to those who had received a court summons, reducing the number of people who could receive it.
But there was another reason: The state spent most of the past year telling renters not to apply.
“The portal has never been closed”
In October 2022, Colorado was running out of money to help renters facing eviction.
State housing officials posted urgent notices to Colorado’s rental assistance website. With a federal pandemic relief program winding down, renters needed to apply as soon as possible to qualify for help.
A month later, the Department of Local Affairs made an announcement that appeared to signal the end of the program: Only “applications submitted before Nov. 16, 2022 will continue to be processed.”
Over the next year, the department secured the state and federal funding needed to keep the program afloat. But the announcement prohibiting new applications to the rental assistance portal remained on the website until earlier this month.
The notice may not have even been true in the first place.
“The portal has never been closed,” Maria De Cambra, the department’s director, told The Sun in an interview. “We have always continued to accept applications for those at risk of eviction.”
When the portal was publicly offered to new applicants back in 2022, the department was overwhelmed with requests for help, De Cambra said. “We were missing those at the most risk.”
To reduce the volume, the department relied on tenant advocates from nonprofit groups who would help renters apply when they appeared at court. They also directed renters to call a hotline, where they would be let in on a secret that was kept from the broader public: The application portal was still open to new applicants, despite the warnings.
“I think the way that it was communicated maybe was a bit confusing,” De Cambra said. “The support is very much being provided.”
“There is so much need”
Lawmakers and housing groups say that because the state limited people from applying, thousands of qualifying renters may have missed out on help they didn’t know was available. For every eviction filing, research suggests that as many as two other households informally evict themselves and move out before the court summons arrives.
“There’s been a pretty steady drumbeat of legislators and advocates talking to the department on how they need to open up this portal,” said state Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who serves on the budget committee. “Our contention is there is so much need out there. But they are artificially constraining the ability of our constituents to ask for really important rental assistance.”
Sirota says the department’s process has had disparate impacts across the state. If you live in a place like Denver, where there are large nonprofits like Mile High United Way, she says you’re more likely to get help.
“If you don’t live here (in Denver), then it may be harder for you to figure out how and where you can access it,” Sirota said.
“I represent Arapahoe and Denver county,” Sirota added. “What I noticed is that rental assistance is a high need in both places, but it’s a higher unmet need in Arapahoe County. This just has to do with how people can find access to these resources.”
Tenant advocacy groups say there’s another problem — discouraging people from applying has left policymakers and housing organizations unsure how much need there really is.
“We’re really in a moment of crisis with the level of displacement we’re seeing,” said Zach Neumann, co-leader of the Community Economic Defense Project, a nonprofit that works with tenants facing eviction. “I think having data from the portal, even if we couldn’t meet all of that need, would at least give us some perspective on how many folks need assistance in the state of Colorado.”
By withholding help until someone receives a court summons, the department could effectively be pushing tenants to wait until their landlord takes legal action against them. Eviction filings show up on a tenant’s credit report even if they aren’t kicked out, a black mark that future landlords may use against them.
In response to complaints from lawmakers, DOLA in recent weeks changed its website to read, “As of Nov. 15, 2022, the Colorado Rental Assistance Program remains available for eligible households experiencing an eviction.”
But the portal itself was still warning new applicants not to apply until The Sun contacted DOLA about it on Friday.
The outdated reference to November 2022 was removed from the website, and the portal now explains that it is still accepting applications. Qualifying renters who have received a court summons can call 720-356-0174 or 1-888-480-0066 or chat online with a representative on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“We’ve got to get that open”
Facing pushback on its refusal to spend the rental assistance funding, the Polis administration this month offered lawmakers another option.
In a budget request letter from Gov. Jared Polis, state officials said they would spend the $8 million on rental assistance as lawmakers intended, but it would be used to help fund a new $30 million rental assistance program the legislature created during a special legislative session in November. Low-income renters don’t have to face an impending eviction to qualify, they just have to be at risk of one due to late payment.
The accounting change allows the state to say it spent the initial $8 million on rental assistance as lawmakers intended. But the budget maneuver still represents a funding cut. The state would spend $30 million total on rental assistance under the governor’s proposal, rather than the $38 million lawmakers approved.
When asked why the state wouldn’t spend the full amount, department officials did not provide a direct response.
“Look, there’s been bumps along the road, but if you look at the program now, we’re getting the money out as quickly as possible,” De Cambra said. “Our priority is making sure that those Coloradans that are at the most imminent risk of being evicted are getting support.”
The new program is expected to be open to more applicants, but department officials say they’re still finalizing the eligibility rules. They’re creating a separate application portal for the new program, but don’t expect to open it until mid-February.
State Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, who sponsored the bill creating the $30 million program, says she expected it to be open already.
“We worked through timelines and unfortunately those timelines have not been met,” Herod said. “Listen, we’re talking about keeping people in their homes versus evictions. We know that evictions continue to be a huge problem. We’ve got to get that open.”
The clock’s ticking. Under the bill, DOLA has until July 1 to spend the money.