The No Eviction Without Representation campaign is pushing to land an eviction legal defense fund initiative on the November 2021 ballot for Denver. It’s really a humanitarian issue. It is hugely disruptive to a person’s life to be evicted. We’re seeing higher rates of joblessness, of hunger. It’s a lot harder to access resources when you’ve been evicted. On top of that, you’ve got a really damaging effect on your credit score and lower likelihood of being able to rent again, says Ruby Leigh Pierce, an organizer with the Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and a campaign proponent.
Local-control advocates have wanted to repeal the prohibition on what s known as inclusionary zoning ever since a 2000 Colorado Supreme Court decision regarding a Telluride rent-control issue wound up affecting the entire state.
The lead-up to that decision began in 1981, when Boulder residents pushed an initiative seeking to institute rent control on existing buildings. In response, the Colorado Legislature passed a bill that local governments cannot institute any ordinance that controls rent, explains Megan Dollar, legislative advocacy manager at the Colorado Municipal League, a major proponent of HB-1117. As a result, she says, from 1981 to 2000, local governments acted in the same way they would have without the rent-control statute, in that when talking about new developments, they d ask for set-asides in the development of affordable-housing units.
A home, and the distance it provides, is one of the main tools available to fight the spread of COVID-19. But the pandemic has affected the livelihoods of thousands of Coloradans.
9Wants to Know has found there could be thousands of people teetering on the edge of an eviction, and they may be removed from their homes despite a moratorium. Chapter one: Unseen evictions
The Moore family is one of those invisible evictions. When Tray and Andrea Moore first moved to their Westminster home, they thought they would be there for years as they raised three girls.
“When we first moved here, we looked at each other and said, we are planting roots, ” Tray Moore said. “This is our home.
A house for rent sign in Denver s Wash Park West neighborhood.
Gov. Jared Polis is poised to let Colorado’s moratorium on evictions expire on New Year’s Eve, about six weeks after he created it, allowing certain evictions to resume in the new year.
A federal moratorium on evictions will continue through January, banning landlords from removing tenants in many cases. But for the last couple months, Colorado renters have had extra protections in scenarios that weren’t covered by the national policy, thanks to an order from Polis.
In a statement, Polis’ office said that an influx of housing aid and other relief money may be enough to reduce the need for those extra protections.
Most Coloradans may be waiting for government check from Congress legislation, but a Colorado causes are in line for relief, as well.• RELATED: Arts organizations breathe a little easier with