Colorado has money to help struggling renters, but some landlords won't play ball

Federal and state funding has helped thousands of Coloradans pay their monthly rent or mortgage bills during the pandemic, and in turn, helped nearly 3,000 landlords get their own bills paid.

But while there’s cash assistance available to both, the program heavily relies on landlords — and if landlords are unwilling to participate, renters are out of luck.

That’s left Lucy Guereca and her family reeling this month.

Her husband’s job in construction has had reduced hours and wages and ended for three months as the pandemic slogged on. The family of four relied on the kindness of strangers to pay rent for their space at Elevado Estates mobile home park near Arvada (“It even comes before food,” she said). But faced with a 10% rent hike in December, Guereca said they had only half the $1,003 payment — after eight years of dutifully paying the rent each month. Their landlord has already sent her papers about late fees that kick in Jan. 1.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/17/colorado-renters-landlords-assistance-public-tenants/