DENVER — Dozens of Green Valley Ranch homeowners and residents packed a room at the local recreation center Saturday morning in desperate search of some much-needed answers as at least 50 homeowners face foreclosure for failing to pay HOA fines and fees.
"It is inherently evil to take somebody's home because of a fine," a member of the crowd said during the Q&A session.
District 11 Councilmember Stacie Gilmore led the conversation inside the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center as concerned homeowners looked on.
"I am not about nickel and dime-ing people because, at the end of the day, you are all paying for the accountants, you're paying for the lawyers who are levying these fines against you," Gilmore said.
Denver7 reported on Thursday dozens of homeowners are facing foreclosure for failing to pay homeowners' association fines or fees. Denver's Department of Housing Stability says out of the 119 citywide HOA foreclosures in 2021, nearly half came from Master Homeowners' Association of Green Valley Ranch.
"It's very concerning that we're seeing possibly 50 out here in our neighborhood. And in other parts of the city, it's less than five," Gilmore said.
Gil Gonzalez Ramos was among the frustrated and angry crowd. His HOA fines amounted to about $5,000 but ballooned up to about $20,000 because of late fees and lawyers' fees.
"I never thought that me, for our family not paying those fines, will lead to the point where we're at now where we lost our home," he said.
Even newer residents like Aiden O'Rourke, who moved to GVR about 10 months ago, are concerned about the lack of communication.
"We've never seen or received any emails, mail notices from the homeowners. We don't know who they are, how to find them, how to contact them," he said.
Understandably, those at Saturday's meeting wanted less talk and more immediate action.
"This is an emergency. How come everybody's not here today?" a local pastor asked. "Where are our state reps? Were they invited to come out as well? Because it's about changing these laws as well."
Councilmember Gilmore hopes to meet with a state legislator on Tuesday to discuss any possible solutions.