Based on recommendations from Colorado’s Special Eviction Prevention Task Force, Governor Jared Polis (D) reinstated a statewide eviction moratorium just days after banning late fees on renters. Governor Polis previously halted evictions in early spring but allowed the moratorium to lapse in June. The reinstatement of the eviction moratorium was one of 14 policy recommendations included in a report issued by the 10-member Task Force. All the policy recommendations focus on improving housing stability in Colorado both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Task Force—whose members come from backgrounds in housing, development, advocacy, banking, and local government—was established in August and charged with examining housing instability due to COVID-19. The Task Force utilized several criteria for developing policy recommendations, including the extent to which policies:
- Help those with the greatest risk of eviction
- Has limited impact on the economics of housing delivery
- Can be delivered efficiently and within a short time frame
Over several months, the Task Force developed short-term (immediate), medium-term (3 to 6 months), and long-term policy recommendations for Governor Polis. The group’s work resulted in statewide eviction protections, including those included in Executive Order D2020 202, which requires landlords to provide information regarding the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) eviction moratorium order and extends the 30-day cure period.
In addition to suspending the accumulation of late fees, requiring landlords to provide information regarding the CDC moratorium, and extending the cure period, the Task Force recommended increase funding of rent relief programs for short-term assistance.
Medium-term recommendations include: imposing limits on late fees and interest beyond the end of the pandemic; imposing a late fee and interest grace period; creating a landlord tax credit for rent and late fee or interest forgiveness; strengthening ‘early eviction response’ tools, ensuring statewide access to housing counseling and legal representation for tenants facing eviction; and prohibiting inquiries into pandemic-related evictions, and lengthening the writ of restitution (i.e., the time a tenant has to exit their home after an eviction) beyond 48 hours.
Longer-term policy recommendations include developing a program to repurpose hotels and motels into transitional housing for displaced renters and creating a tailored counseling and good tenant program.
While the Task Force’s tenure has ended, the medium-term and the longer-term recommendations will be given to the Colorado Division of Housing’s newly formed Strategic Housing Work Group. Beginning in November of 2020, the group will advise the Division of Housing on Colorado’s affordable housing needs and develop responses to the state’s long-term housing needs. Several state legislators are also reviewing the report to determine what issues might need to be addressed during the next legislative session.
“The recommendations by the Task Force are a critical step in preventing people from falling into the cycle of homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic but we know much more needs to be done,” said Cathy Alderman, Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. “It is imperative that Congress gets back to work to provide financial relief for people for when moratoria expire and rent becomes due for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans.”
The full report is at: https://bit.ly/322N5Ew