Last year, Denver County Court saw record-high eviction filings. This year, based on Denver County Court records, the city's off to a worse start than in January 2023 -- or any other January in recent history.
While the rapid increase of Denver rents from the pandemic years has slowed and vacancy rates are higher than before, the cost of living continues to be out of reach for many Denverites, and the city lacks enough income-restricted housing for those who can't afford market rates.
This leaves people cost-burned, or dedicating more than 30% of their income to paying rent. Many households are one unexpected expense from a failure to pay and an eviction case in court.
In January 2024, 1,548 households in the city faced an eviction case.
That's 445 more households facing eviction than in January 2023 and more than 600 the number of people who faced eviction in 2019, the first year before the pandemic upended the real estate market.
That number does not include everybody who left at the first sign of losing their rental unit. And not everybody who went to court lost their case, was evicted or was forced out by sheriff's deputies. Some households left on their own.
In 2023, Denver saw the highest number of eviction filings of any year since at least 2008. Averaged out, that was roughly 1,075 court cases a month, far fewer than January 2024.
"I think the ongoing filings that we're seeing continue to be the direct result of housing that's dramatically out of step with wages," Zach Neumann, head of the Community Economic Defense Project, told Denverite. "It seems like it gets worse and worse every month."
The end of 2023, Denver's federally funded rental assistance money largely dried up. And while the city is currently funding rental assistance at higher-than-normal levels, tenants rights advocates say it's not what is needed to keep people facing no-pay eviction housed.
Are state lawmakers doing anything to address the issue during the legislative session?
Lawmakers are considering one measure that would make it harder for property owners to evict tenants in several situations, including after the lease expires.
Last year, "both the state and the city made really meaningful investments in rental assistance," Neumann said. "Those dollars are about to or beginning to come online. Those obviously don't stop filings, but they provide resources when people are filed against. "
Neumann says state lawmakers have a variety of proposals that will offer households some relief, and he's optimistic that the city will continue to make investments in eviction prevention.
But as long as the cost of living is unaffordable, the threat of eviction will continue to plague Denverites.
"We've got a real structural problem," he said. "Until and unless we can address the fact that housing is so out of step with what most people earn, we're going to continue to see really big numbers."
