Improving Housing Stability
Improving Housing Stability
Preventing Evictions
Overview and Description
Evictions have lasting consequences for individuals and families, including constraining their ability to secure stable and long-term housing in the future. Local elected officials can create policies and programs to reduce evictions and their harms. Requiring landlords to provide renters with information on available rights and resources, permitting only just cause evictions, establishing pilot or long-lasting programs to deliver rental and/or legal assistance to particularly low-income renters at risk of eviction, mandating a longer timeline from notice to filing for eviction in court, requiring renter-landlord mediation before eviction filings, are some examples of actions local officials can take to reduce evictions.
Opportunity and Examples from Colorado
Community Economic Defense Project (CEDP) is a Colorado nonprofit organization that offers a comprehensive suite of services to keep renters in their homes. Assistance includes short term rental and mortgage assistance, free legal aid and guidance to tenants facing eviction, owners facing foreclosure, and housing insecurity, and navigation services to ensure tenants and owners have access to the resources needed to keep them in their homes.
Denver Tenant Rights & Resources The City of Denver publishes a guide for tenants with detailed information about the rights of tenants in Denver as well as financial and community resources available to tenants facing eviction.
DOLA Legal and Rent Assistance Resources for Tenants The Department of Local Affairs also provides a web-based resource guide for renters and residents of mobile/manufactured housing communities in Colorado.
Guides and Resources
- Law and Policy Pathways to Preventing Housing Instability
- Eviction Innovation Policies, Laws, and Rules to Mitigate Evictions
- Home for Good: Strategies to Prevent Eviction and Promote Housing Stability
- HUD USER Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing: Federal, State, Local, and Tribal Opportunities
Rental Registries and Licensing Programs
Overview and Description
Rental registries or rental licensing programs for long-term rental properties can be implemented at the local level to establish a full accounting of rental units, including contact information for property owners and landlords. Such a resource enables large-scale communication from public officials to landlords regarding helpful updates such as policy changes and available resources. Licensing programs go a step beyond registries, as rental properties must pass an inspection to verify compliance with health, safety, and other locally determined standards. Both advance renter stability and high-quality living conditions, by increasing rental property oversight and landlord accountability.