Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Demand for pandemic rental assistance in Colorado jumped 33% in November
Housing officials credit public awareness for renters and landlords who may qualify for 15 months of rent help; a separate mortgage program made four payments in its first month.
Colorado launches program to help homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments
Money is available to cover 3 months of past-due mortgage payments, but it may be too late for some homeowners in the foreclosure process.
Colorado’s COVID rent-assistance program may have paid up to $4.4 million in error, audit finds
The popular state renter relief program paid landlords rent for tenants. But state auditors found that errors led to overpayments and less oversight as tenants weren’t notified that their rent had been paid.
Colorado’s free rent program has paid out 15.2% of its available federal funds
Six months into the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, payments are speeding up, but only a sliver of the $690 million available has been tapped and people still are waiting for help.
Residents of a Steamboat Springs mobile home park that went without power for 60 days still await answers
The electricity was out at Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park from mid-June to mid-August and a state investigation is ongoing.
Colorado’s COVID rent-assistance program is now paying out five times more following changes
Local governments were faster at distributing federal dollars than the state. With the national eviction moratorium over, federal and state improvements have sped up rent payments.
Colorado has paid out just 7.4% of its federal rent-assistance funds
The Department of Local Affairs, which oversees the rental housing assistance program, switched vendors to speed up pandemic payments.
Broomfield house for aged-out foster kids is a model for solving Colorado’s youth homelessness crisis
Anchor House, a church and community project in Broomfield, has eight studio apartments for young people who have emancipated from the foster care system without families
Ethics complaints from mountain counties spur probe of state Division of Property Taxation
Eagle, La Plata and San Miguel counties are asking for an audit or investigation into a cozy relationship between a state tax official and a lawyer representing hotels in litigation with the counties
In the shadow of a ski resort, Steamboat Springs mobile home residents have been without power for 50 days
Residents of the Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park lost power in mid-June after an electrical fire. The park is now the subject of a state investigation.
Colorado’s COVID-19 rent assistance program sees delays, fraud as eviction moratorium is set to end Saturday
Some tenants and landlords were approved for COVID-19 rental relief months ago but have still not received a payment.
Thousands of Coloradans struggling to pay rent asked the state for help. $6.5 million later, phones are still ringing.
Nine months into the pandemic, Colorado’s housing assistance office spent $1 million to hire an out-of-state contractor to process applications for rent and mortgage help. The cost has grown as HORNE added 100 workers, of which slightly more than half live outside of Colorado.
Colorado renters and landlords are in a race with the eviction ban. Should the state intervene?
At least 80,000 Colorado renters are estimated to be behind on their rent, according to recent U.S. Census survey data. And the CDC ban on evictions is set to expire on June 30, if President Joe Biden does not extend it.
Housing in Boulder County — and across Colorado — is expensive. But affordable homes are more than a fantasy.
Even with myriad solutions on the table, and many people eager and able to make change, closing the affordability gap is proving to be a monumental task
Colorado faces a 20,000-applicant backlog in requests for rent help as federal eviction ban is extended
The national eviction ban was extended to June 30, and that could calm some worries of Coloradans who have been waiting months for state rental assistance.
Colorado’s mortgage relief program will pause after funds are used up
The state has started a separate rent-assistance program to utilize new federal relief, which provided no assistance for homeowners.
Colorado sees record $55 million in rent assistance requests in past month — more than all of 2020
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs is working through a months-long backlog of rent requests to provide payment to tenants and landlords
A national eviction ban will help Colorado renters stay housed until March 31, but there are asterisks
State’s rental assistance programs receive $247 million in federal aid. Tenants can now apply for three months of future rent, which has property owners saying there’s no need for moratoriums.
As 2020 winds down, renter programs get more money as Colorado’s state eviction moratorium is set to end
Funds to help people struggling with rent and mortgages payments are replenished as landlord applications for aid quadruples. Meanwhile, the federal eviction ban was extended to Jan. 31 as part of the new federal relief bill
Colorado has money to help struggling renters, but some landlords won’t play ball
“Some landlords are not willing to do this, and if they’re not willing to do it, we can’t help them, that client, which is heartbreaking,” said Kristen Baluyot, with The Salvation Army.
