Colorado Rental Housing Market Remains Stable, Continually Above National Average for Rent Payments

DENVER (August 30, 2021)—For the first half of 2021, Colorado renters paid their rent at rates higher than the national average – continuing a trend ahead of national rates since the start of the pandemic in April of 2020. In July, 97% of Colorado renters made their payments, compared to 94.5% nationally. The numbers reported from the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) Rent Payment Tracker reflect that apartment households in the United States paid rent in the month of July 2.5 percentage points below Colorado’s rent collection rate.

“A 97% collection rate in July continues to show us that Colorado residents in need have availed themselves of rental assistance programs, worked with their rental housing providers and paid their rent through the first half of 2021. This continued effort in Colorado is evidence that the system we’ve set up works,” said Mark Williams, executive vice president of the Colorado Apartment Association (CAA). “We will continue to work with our partners to ensure Colorado’s rental housing industry and economy move towards a full recovery.”

Throughout the first half of the year, evictions in Colorado continue to be down––in July, it was 52.4% of eviction filing levels in July 2019. Only 1,989 eviction filings occurred in July, slightly down from the June number of 1,992. The filing process in Colorado has been taking approximately three months to complete, so these numbers signal that there does not seem to be an impending uptick in physical moveouts.

“The consistency of high rent collection and low eviction filings in Colorado going into the second half of 2021 show that the programs maintaining the rental ecosystem, such as the Department of Labor’s ERAP program, are the right move to keep people in their homes. Colorado’s stable rental economy demonstrates our programs are working,” said Drew Hamrick, general counsel and senior VP of government affairs at the Colorado Apartment Association.

CAA and its members continue to support Colorado residents who are struggling with rent payments by offering payment plans and other solutions to keep residents in their homes. The state received $247 million in Federal funding for rental and utility assistance, of which rental housing providers and residents can both apply for past due, current and future rent costs, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). For more information, visit the DOLA website.

Additionally, CAA partnered with the Resident Relief Foundation (RRF), which awards grants to residents who struggle to pay their rent. The Colorado fund is still accepting donations through this link, or by shopping on Amazon Smile. Residents hoping to apply for grants through the Colorado fund can apply online here.

RRF is a 501(c)(3) organization providing rental assistance grants to responsible residents during emergencies. So far, the Colorado fund has raised more than $160,000 for Colorado residents and funding remains available for qualifying applicants.

In addition, CAA has assembled a list of more than 100 COVID-19 resources for residents, which can be found at this link under the “Renter Resources” tab.

CAA has reported monthly rent collection data for Colorado and nationally since the start of the pandemic in April 2020.

About the Colorado Apartment Association 

The Colorado Apartment Association is a non-profit trade association representing owners, developers, management companies, and Supplier Partners of the multifamily rental housing industry. CAA is comprised of four local affiliates from across the state. The association represents over 3,000 members who own and manage over 300,000 apartment homes, which totals more than $88 billion in assets. Together with the local affiliates, the National Multifamily Housing Council, and the National Apartment Association, CAA offers a strong network of information, education and representation of the multifamily housing industry.