State and local resources have provided housing aid to many victims of the devastating Marshall fire in Boulder County. But another barely touched pot of money comes from an unlikely source: federal COVID relief funds. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which pays up to 15 months of rent for those experiencing pandemic income loss, has […]
COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project
Posted inEconomy, Housing, News
Colorado has paid out just 7.4% of its federal rent-assistance funds
With some renters still waiting weeks or months for a promised rent check from Colorado’s share of federal rent assistance, the state Department of Local Affairs said it has switched vendors so all payments approved by July 31 should be paid within two weeks. “As of Aug. 17, we have switched to Bill.com for making […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
Colorado’s COVID-19 rent assistance program sees delays, fraud as eviction moratorium is set to end Saturday
When her tenants lost their jobs or saw their income plunge early in the pandemic, Karen Arnold had a heart — and a curious mind. She reduced their rents and continued to work with them for the rest of the year. Then she heard about a Colorado assistance program that provided rent payments to landlords […]
Posted inHousing, News
What you need to know in Colorado as the federal freeze on evictions ends
By Patty Nieberg, The Associated Press/Report for America A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, Housing, News, Politics and Government
Colorado renters and landlords are in a race with the eviction ban. Should the state intervene?
By Hayley Sanchez and Andrew Kenney, Colorado Public Radio Gail Steger Mock has been a landlord for 35 years. She got into the rental business because she wanted to do something that would have a positive impact on people. “You get to help them have a decent place to live, and that’s where I come […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Housing, News
How a court ruling undoing the CDC’s eviction ban affects Coloradans waiting for rental assistance, recovery
The national eviction moratorium keeping countless Coloradans housed during the pandemic is now in question after a federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority. A federal judge ruled in the case of the Alabama Association of Realtors v. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that […]
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 […]