Colorado’s housing assistance program, which has provided $58.9 million in rent or mortgage help during the pandemic, will be placed on hold starting Friday as it waits for new federal funds to aid struggling homeowners, according to the state Department of Local Affairs. The rent-assistance programs, however, will continue under a different name in order […]
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
Colorado sees record $55 million in rent assistance requests in past month — more than all of 2020
A record number of applications seeking help with monthly rent or mortgage payments flooded Colorado’s rent-assistance programs in January after a state eviction moratorium ended. More than $55 million was requested between Jan. 4 and Feb. 8, which was more than all of 2020, according to data from the state Division of Housing. But the […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Housing, News
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.
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, News, Politics and Government
As 2020 winds down, renter programs get more money as Colorado’s state eviction moratorium is set to end
Struggling renters get one more month to figure out how to pay their rent, thanks to an extension of the national eviction moratorium in the new federal COVID-19 relief bill. There’s also a new pot of federal money headed to Colorado just for rental assistance in the $908 billion Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News
Colorado has money to help struggling renters, but some landlords won’t play ball
Federal and state funding has helped thousands of Coloradans pay their monthly rent or mortgage bills during the pandemic, and in turn, helped nearly 3,000 landlords get their own bills paid. But while there’s cash assistance available to both, the program heavily relies on landlords — and if landlords are unwilling to participate, renters are […]
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 inBusiness, Energy, News, Technology
Spurred by the threat of wildfires, an Estes Park broadband project moved at the speed of light
As the Cameron Peak fire burned in the distance on the morning of Oct. 17, Josh Cramer sprung into action. He worried the fire might reach Estes Park and cause a literal meltdown that could wipe out the town’s internet, emergency lines and prevent reverse 9-1-1 calls. The town needed access to backup broadband. But […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Transportation
Durango’s ridiculed Bridge to Nowhere suddenly has clear road ahead
A decade ago, it was snickered at as “the Bridge to Nowhere.” It was a concrete overpass curling over a highway in a then mostly undeveloped section of Durango. The span had a cow pasture on one side and dead-ended in a scrubby hillside on the other. It truly did not go anywhere. Now, that […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Technology
Internet service in western Colorado was so terrible that towns and counties built their own telecom
Internet outages became a distant memory this month as a good chunk of western Colorado turned on a new broadband system. But this wasn’t built by a typical telecom. It took a band of local governments and partners from 14 rural communities to stitch together the 481-mile network, dubbed “Project Thor.” Communities from Aspen to […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, Politics and Government
Colorado is now under a stay-at-home order. But what about those without homes?
Gov. Jared Polis has ordered millions of Coloradans to stay at home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, but the thousands of people experiencing homelessness have few options. State and local agencies are searching for more temporary spaces for individuals experiencing homelessness, and the Springs Rescue Mission in El Paso County is pushing […]