DENVER — Landlords in Denver continue to make eviction filings at a blistering pace, with 925 more submitted in June, according to county court data.
The 925 new filings bring the year-to-date total to 7,793. During the first six months of last year, 6,011 eviction filings were recorded. Denver’s number of eviction filings has increased year over year in five of six months thus far in 2024, with the 925 June filings nearly doubling the total from June of 2023 (470).
Denver’s 12,910 eviction filings in 2023 were a record for the city and the most since more than 10,000 faced eviction in 2010 in the years that followed the nationwide housing crisis in 2008.
- We've covered Denver's eviction filings trend throughout the first half of 2024. In January, the city recorded its highest monthly total in years with 1,548 filings. Through the first quarter of the year, eviction filings were outpacing last year by 20%.
It is not clear how many evictions resulted – or will result – from the filings thus far in 2024. A judge must rule in every case before a tenant can be forced to vacate their home.
The surge in eviction filings comes as Colorado lawmakers aim to make housing more attainable in our state. Gov. Polis in April signed into law a bill that requires landlords to have cause for evicting a tenant. A new law went into effect Monday that prohibits city and county governments from limiting the number of unrelated people who can share a house or apartment.
In November, Denver's Department of Housing Stability approved $29.1 million in rental assistance that it estimated would serve about 4,000 households.
According to the U.S. Census Housing Pulse Survey, almost 52% of adults in Colorado were not current on rent or mortgage payments and were considered likely to face eviction or foreclosure as of May 27. It represented the highest percentage in the U.S. (Oregon, 58.7%).
The rental affordability squeeze is not unique to Colorado. Rising prices due to inflation, affordable housing shortages and the end of pandemic-era relief have burdened communities across the country, according to The Associated Press.
Data released in January by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and reported in March by the AP found that a record high 22.4 million renter households — or half of renters nationwide — were spending more than 30% of their income on rent in 2022. The number of affordable units — with rents under $600 — also dropped to 7.2 million that year, 2.1 million fewer than a decade earlier.