Even before the pandemic, economic prospects for many Colorado families were dwindling into stagnation. COVID-19 has only further widened the gulf between working families and Colorado’s wealthiest. As our state looks to recover (and recover better than before), new evidence published by the Bell Policy Center supports what we have seen throughout American history — […]
Colorado Center on Law and Policy
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Why Colorado’s economy shouldn’t just return to “normal” after COVID-19
With more Coloradans facing economic hardship amid the second wave of COVID-19, the disparities along racial and geographic lines have become painfully more apparent. Economic data gathered during the pandemic shows that job losses have been greatest among Coloradans with low wages – particularly in the hospitality and leisure sectors. Jobs lost in these sectors […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Health, Politics and Government
Six months after eviction, a Denver woman wonders if she’ll ever have stable housing again
Despite two weeks of a harsh cough and feeling achy and awful while she was sick with COVID-19, as well as lingering shortness of breath weeks later, contracting the coronavirus in late October is not the worst thing that has happened to Mireya Marquez this year. Marquez, 39, a transgender woman living in Denver, was […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Crime and Courts, Politics and Government
“We have nowhere to go”: Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans at risk of eviction
Colorado renters will get more help with their rent payments and have an extra 20 days before non-payment of rent leads to eviction under an executive order signed this week by Gov. Jared Polis. But housing advocates say the order isn’t enough to keep thousands of people from being forced from their homes. “He just […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, News, Politics and Government
At nearly every turn in Denver, protesters confront a reason to march
Kenny White, a black man in his late 20s, joins the downtown Denver protesters near dusk. A speaker has just wrapped his exhortation to the hundreds gathered at the west steps. “This is not a black-versus-white issue,” he says. “This is an us-versus-them issue.” The words “By any means necessary” are spray-painted on the Capitol […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Politics and Government
Coloradans in the U.S. illegally — and their citizen families — were denied coronavirus aid. Will the state step in?
Alaina Silva met her husband in a crowded sushi restaurant in downtown Denver in 2011. He was the sushi chef behind the bar, wearing a black chef’s coat and apron that crisscrossed behind his back. “I had just moved for work and I didn’t know anyone, so I decided to dine alone for the first […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado’s Basic Cash Assistance families need a boost out of poverty
Most Coloradans struggle to keep up with the rising costs of housing, food and utilities. For parents, the squeeze makes it even harder to provide the basics like diapers, bus passes, school supplies and formula. For families in our communities with the least income, Colorado provides Basic Cash Assistance to bridge gaps between jobs or […]
Posted inGrowth, Politics and Government, Transportation
To pay for housing and roads, Colorado lawmakers turned to an unusual source: the public’s “lost and found”
Affordable housing advocates had a problem entering the 2019 session: No matter how large Colorado’s state budget became, they just couldn’t compete for dollars with the seemingly insatiable demands of schools, roads and health care. So Claire Levy, a former state budget writer turned policy advocate, sought out money in a place few others bothered […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
It’s the Year of the Renter at the Colorado statehouse, from rent control to less stringent eviction timelines
First it was the bed bugs that infested the couch and the roaches scuttling through the kitchen. But the worst was the day the boiler room exploded, sending residents of Kelsey Danna’s apartment complex screaming and running as a gas man shouted at them to get to safety. The Englewood complex didn’t have heat for […]