Target Manure
2023-10-09 01:04:27 UTC
Deborah Self couldnât stand the sound of her ringtone any longer.
She silenced it last week, easing the dread of yet another call from
a Coloradan on the verge of eviction. She didnât need the shrill
notification to do her job. Someone in need is always on the other
line. Her phone rarely leaves her ear.
Self, a housing navigator at Colorado Housing Connects, works from
home answering some 50 calls a day to help people search for
affordable housing, rental assistance, or tenant and landlord
mediation. The organization has seen a nearly 60% spike in calls
from the same time last year.
âThereâs a whole range of emotions when people call,â Self said. âA
lot of people are crying. There are occasionally people who are
angry and they direct it toward us, but itâs nothing to do with us.
Iâm pretty good at de-escalating. I try to calm them down and see
what we can do to help.â
Drew Hamrick, senior vice president for the Colorado Apartment
Association, said increasing evictions were a âreturn to normalityâ
after the acute pandemic emergency âartificially depressedâ
displacement. He said housing advocatesâ fears of âeviction
tsunamisâ were overblown and that the state typically averages
between 3,500 and 4,000 filings a month â as it is now. Landlords,
he said, need a way to recover their properties from tenants who
canât or wonât pay.
https://www.denverpost.com/2023/10/06/denver-colorado-evictions-
housing-affordable/
She silenced it last week, easing the dread of yet another call from
a Coloradan on the verge of eviction. She didnât need the shrill
notification to do her job. Someone in need is always on the other
line. Her phone rarely leaves her ear.
Self, a housing navigator at Colorado Housing Connects, works from
home answering some 50 calls a day to help people search for
affordable housing, rental assistance, or tenant and landlord
mediation. The organization has seen a nearly 60% spike in calls
from the same time last year.
âThereâs a whole range of emotions when people call,â Self said. âA
lot of people are crying. There are occasionally people who are
angry and they direct it toward us, but itâs nothing to do with us.
Iâm pretty good at de-escalating. I try to calm them down and see
what we can do to help.â
Drew Hamrick, senior vice president for the Colorado Apartment
Association, said increasing evictions were a âreturn to normalityâ
after the acute pandemic emergency âartificially depressedâ
displacement. He said housing advocatesâ fears of âeviction
tsunamisâ were overblown and that the state typically averages
between 3,500 and 4,000 filings a month â as it is now. Landlords,
he said, need a way to recover their properties from tenants who
canât or wonât pay.
https://www.denverpost.com/2023/10/06/denver-colorado-evictions-
housing-affordable/