Patrick Noonan has worked for Brothers Redevelopment for about eight years. The housing nonprofit is a staple in the Denver area, assisting residents with home modifications, partnering with various groups on low-income housing developments, offering housing counseling and homebuyer workshops along with rental and mortgage assistance.
Noonan started as a housing navigator and is currently the program director for Brothers' Colorado Housing Connects, a statewide housing hotline where Coloradans can call to receive that rental and mortgage assistance, along with other housing inquiries such as navigating the affordable housing field, learning about aging in place programs and tenant-landlord mediation.
The hotline started in 2006, in partnership with the state housing division, in response to the growing foreclosure crisis and Great Recession. In 2014, the program expanded to include rental assistance and other housing issues.
So, Noonan has seen the "ebbs and flows of the call volumes and the types of inquiries" the hotline has received over the years.
Noonan said he was "floored" at the amount of calls the hotline received in August particularly when it comes to calls regarding eviction prevention and assistance.
Overall, Housing Connects received 8,073 inquiries in August, a 60% increase from calls received in August 2022. Out of those calls, 66% were from renters looking for eviction prevention assistance and rental or utility assistance.
"Really since the beginning of the year, it's been a steep increase each month punctuated by our record high numbers in August," Noonan said. "I think what we're seeing right now is fewer safety net resources for struggling households in conjunction with extremely high rents and high inflation. There's a lot of pressing expenses for the people we're talking to."
During the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control issued an eviction moratorium, but that ended in October 2021.
Noonan said the ending of the moratoriums is a factor. Correlating with the rise in hotline calls, Noonan said eviction filings rose almost 60% from August 2022 to August 2023.
According to city data, there were 1,196 eviction filings in August 2023 compared to 766 in 2022.
But the bigger issue, according to Noonan, is the end of federal aid and rental assistance programs.
Denver's federally funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program stopped accepting applications in December 2022. That program was funded through the U.S. Department of Treasury's Coronavirus Relief Fund and the American Rescue Plan Act and provided more than $130 million in rental assistance to almost 14,000 Denver families.
Noonan also points toward the decrease in Medicaid and SNAP assistance. Up to 325,000 people in Colorado lost their Medicaid benefits once COVID emergency declarations ended.
"The city in County Denver has more rental assistance than anybody else across the state and they're kind of leading in that regard, but there is less assistance than there was a year ago," Noonan said.
While the hotline offers services statewide, Noonan said the majority of the calls come from residents in Denver and the Denver-metro area.
In Denver specifically, the top five zip codes that have reached out to the hotline over the last 12 months are 80204 (Villa Park), 80219 (Barnum, Westwood), 80205 (Five Points, Cole, Whitter, Clayton, Skyland) 80216 (Park Hill, Globeville) 80220 (East Colfax).
The top inquiry for all of these zip codes is rental or utility assistance, which includes eviction assistance.
Compared to last year, three zip codes have seen an increase in calls specifically on seeking eviction from the hotline:
- 80220 in East Colfax went from 148 calls to 389;
- 80222 in University Hills and Virginia Village went from 106 calls to 365;
- and 80249 in Green Valley Ranch went from 141 to 357.
Noonan said as the additional resources previously available continue to wither, the problem will be get worse as more temporary protections, like student loan repayment pauses, end.
"My concern for any household struggling to make ends meet is that there's fewer resources this September than there were a year ago to help them stabilize in their situation," Noonan said.
Noonan said Brothers can still assist in two ways. The nonprofit offers financial assistance through state and city level programs. For example, residents in Denver can apply for the Temporary Rental and Utility Assistance program through Brothers.
The second way is by pointing residents in need toward outside resources.
Brothers also offers free tenant-landlord mediation in Denver and Adams county. This preventive program is meant to bridge the gap between a tenant and landlord before the eviction process begins. Brothers can also refer tenants towards legal assistance.
There's also classes on eviction prevention, affordable housing navigation and housing ownership.
Noonan said true prevention would be an increase in affordable housing and he noted that Denver specifically is allocating funds to increase that housing stock but until then folks will need assistance to secure financial stability.
"Anybody that's struggling as it relates to their housing situation right now or knows somebody that is, should reach out to us by giving us a call at 844-926-6632 or visit us at coloradohousingconnects.org," Noonan said.
Correction: The bar chart in this story originally presented data with the years flipped. It has been updated.
