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While Colorado has some of the strongest renter protections in the country, many of these rights can only be enforced by state authorities, giving local representatives few options for helping to address their constituents’ housing needs. As local officials, we are often the first point of contact for our residents, regardless of whether the issue they are facing falls into our jurisdiction. We are the ones closest to our community and are, more often than not, the first place they turn when they’re in need of assistance. But when our neighbors are facing serious housing issues, we have few options beyond connecting renters to nonprofit legal partners.
In Edgewater, residents of two multi-family units have consistently complained to our city council and staff. We know many of these tenants personally, and we are always their first call when property management fails to address their concerns. In Aurora, several landlords regularly skirt state habitable laws, endangering the health and safety of both their tenants and community members at large. Despite serious efforts to strengthen our local laws to protect tenants, many of the issues we hear about on a daily basis are covered under state statutes that are outside our enforcement ability. But that can change…