The number of eviction court cases filed by landlords in Boulder County rose again last year, reaching levels not seen since the years following the Great Recession, according to data from the Colorado Judicial Branch.
This persistent uptick partially reflects the region’s high housing costs and the expiration of safety net programs enacted during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as rent assistance.
The total number of cases filed in the Boulder County Justice Center and the Longmont Safety and Justice Center increased to 1,398 in 2023, a 6% rise over the previous year, according to the state data.
A silver lining, however, is that roughly two-thirds of City of Boulder residents summoned to court for an eviction hearing did not end up with an eviction on their record, according to 2023 data on the city’s eviction prevention and rental assistance program, or EPRAS. Such a record makes it harder to find another landlord.
This is partly because tenants received legal assistance from city officials and contracted lawyers through the EPRAS program, helping them negotiate agreements with landlords. Tenants often agree to pay late rent and attorneys fees and commit to leaving their apartments by a certain date.
Notably, most city residents who ended up with an eviction on their records did not show up for their court hearings, according to city officials. City officials said they attempt to contact people whose names appear on the eviction court docket but are not always able to reach them.
The EPRAS program has proven effective at helping people avoid having an eviction placed on their record. But it has been less successful at helping people stay in their homes, partially because it does not have enough money for covering rental costs before tenants end up in court.
People can seek help from the EPRAS program at any stage in the eviction process. But starting last year, city officials required people to have a court date before qualifying for city rental assistance. They also reduced the overall assistance given to households. The changes were made to prevent the program from running out of money.
The program, created after voters passed the No Eviction Without Representation ballot measure in 2020, is paid for by a $75 tax on rental licenses. That tax has not increased since the program began, even though the ballot measure stated that the tax would increase every year “at a rate that does not exceed the Colorado consumer price index on each rental license for a dwelling unit that is issued by the city.”
Moreover, rents for apartments in the City of Boulder have risen since the start of the program. (This year, however, rents have remained about flat when compared to last year, according to Zillow, which tracks rental prices.)
“That means the funds that we have don’t necessarily do as much as they did when we started,” Jay Allen, a program coordinator with the City of Boulder who helps oversee the EPRAS program, told Boulder Reporting Lab in reference to rising rents. “More funding,” he said, would “keep more people in their homes.”
The Boulder City Council adopted a 2024 budget that includes $1.4 million for the EPRAS program. This amount is about the same as in 2023.
In 2023, during a special legislative session, state lawmakers passed legislation to create a $30 million Temporary Rental Assistance Grant Program. Funds from the program are allocated through a random selection process, which prioritizes “those at most risk of eviction.” (Applications for the initiation round of assistance closed on Tuesday, Feb. 20.)
“Theoretically, that should help,” Carin Armstrong, a community mediation and resolution center manager who helps oversee the EPRAS program, told members of the Tenant Advisory Committee earlier this month in reference to the state funding. “But what we’re seeing right now is just that there is a huge backlog in their ability to process applications.”
Given those funding constraints, some renter advocates are calling for the city to invest more in the program. The Tenant Advisory Committee has been discussing how to increase the rental license tax or find other sources of city funding for the EPRAS program.
“It sounds like there is demonstrated success with the program,” RJ Boyle, the chair of the Tenant Advisory Committee, said during a meeting earlier this month. “We need more money.”
Update: This story was updated on Feb. 21 with Carin Armstrong's full title.
Whose job is it to increase that tax on rental licenses each year? Where is the disconnect here? If it’s legally supposed to be increased every year, someone needs to be responsible for doing it and making it available to the program.