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 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, 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, News

What’s Working: As coronavirus cases increased, so did the number of Coloradans filing for unemployment

As coronavirus cases in Colorado are on the rise again, so are business restrictions and, ultimately, the number of Coloradans finding themselves newly unemployed. The number of folks on unemployment for the first time increased 25% during the week of Halloween from the prior week, pushing over 10,000 for the first time since July 25. […]

Posted inBusiness, News

Eviction ban or not, Colorado tenants still worry about their rent while landlords struggle to survive

Vikki Miller began 2020 with a divorce. Then the coronavirus started spreading in Colorado. Now she faces homelessness.  The Colorado Springs resident stopped working as an Uber driver in March and hasn’t returned because her immune system is compromised. She’s been unable to find a new gig that lets her work safely at home. In […]

Posted inBusiness, COVID, Growth, News, Politics and Government

Colorado governor bans evictions for tenants who can prove financial hardship because of coronavirus

Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday issued an executive order banning Colorado landlords from evicting tenants who can prove financial hardship because of the coronavirus crisis. The order, which lasts at least 30 days, comes after the Democrat faced months of pressure from housing advocates to protect renters from losing their homes during the pandemic. Polis […]

Posted inBusiness, COVID, News

Why Colorado’s housing market looks so hot even though coronavirus is ravaging the economy

From the start, 2020 was going to be big for American Financing. The Aurora mortgage lender had a major marketing coup: a celebrity endorsement from Peyton Manning, who led the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl win in 2016.  Then the coronavirus hit.  The 400-plus employee firm was no longer sure TV commercials starring Manning […]

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 inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government

Colorado renters may have eviction records even though they’ve never been evicted. Lawmakers want to change that.

Every time an eviction case is filed by a landlord in Colorado, it produces a court record, even if the tenant wins and gets the case dismissed. Those eviction filing records are swiftly scraped up by third-party tenant screening companies that use them to produce rental reports for landlords that aren’t always accurate.  “And so […]