PAYING THE PRICE: RENTERS FACING EVICTION MUST SELF-ADVOCATE TO RECEIVE HELP, STILL LOOPHOLES PERSIST
Story by Giles Clasen & Robert Davis
Photos by Giles Clasen
Originally published in the Denver Voice
ALLEN BOE LIVES FOR THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE.
He gets joy from volunteering and serving others. He enjoys a smoke. He likes getting takeout now and again. And he loved his old apartment.
The apartment wasn’t much to speak of, but it was Boe’s. He kept it clean and spent a lot of time watching TV. Most importantly, Boe could afford the apartment on his Social Security income.
Boe had $250 left of his Social Security each month after paying his rent and his phone bill – his most significant monthly expenses. He also had food stamps.
“I could live a good life on $250 a month after my bills were paid,” Boe said.
On October 20, 2020, Boe found a note taped to his door from Cornerstone, an apartment management company, saying he had less than two months to vacate the apartment he loved. The building had been sold and would be undergoing construction before it was reopened to new renters. Cornerstone was hired by the new owner to manage the building moving forward.
Boe didn’t have a backup plan or significant savings. He was never able to save much for retirement.
After receiving the notice that his lease wouldn’t be renewed, Boe looked for a new apartment. Realizing he couldn’t afford much in the Denver area, Boe wasn’t sure what his next step would be, but he was coming to the realization that he was likely to be homeless.
Luckily, Boe walked by the Safe Outdoor Space in Capitol Hill as volunteers were working on it. The Safe
Outdoor Space’s campsite is a legally sanctioned, temporary encampment for individuals experiencing homelessness. It is managed by Colorado Village Collaborative and located in the parking lot of Denver Community Church.
Boe utilized his background in construction and volunteered to help build the shelter. This ensured that Boe was able to live in the encampment when he moved out of his apartment. After moving into the camp, Boe realized the space serves a much bigger purpose to the unhoused community.
“I don’t think people understand what it is like to be homeless,” Boe said. “Everyone else looks at you like you’re worthless. But I want to see them try it. It takes a lot of work to get through a day. Just getting the things you need, getting around, getting to appointments, trying to find food, trying to find housing – it takes work to be homeless.”
Boe also acknowledged the role community plays for those experiencing homelessness. “Everybody is in this together. We need to help each other. Sometimes, just a pat on the back means everything to these people.”
At 65-years-old, Boe still has the energy to work a regular job, but it’s been difficult to find someone to give him the opportunity.
After fracturing his leg on a job site several years ago, Boe was forced into retirement. He’s been collecting disability and Social Security benefits ever since and hopes to find rental assistance to afford an apartment in Denver.
Shannon MacKenzie, deputy director of the Colorado Poverty Law Project, described Boe’s case as heartbreaking because it represents a loophole that landlords exploit in the eviction moratoria put in place due to COVID-19.
A PRICE TO PAY
Before being evicted, Boe lived at the Cornerstone Apartments at 1317 N. Pearl St. in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
For their part, Cornerstone offered to refund residents one month of rent plus their security deposit for the inconvenience.
Shannon MacKenzie, deputy director of the Colorado Poverty Law Project, described Boe’s case as heartbreaking because it represents a loophole that landlords exploit in the eviction moratoria put in place due to COVID-19.
The moratoria, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Congress via the CARES Act, protected approximately 46% of the nation’s renters from eviction in most cases, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Meanwhile, the moratorium Polis issued in March 2020 provided a broader set of protections for renters and homeowners. However, Polis’s order expired on January 1, 2021.
State lawmakers went a step further to provide residents of mobile homes with additional means of avoiding eviction.
They passed several amendments to the Colorado Mobile Home Park Act during the 2020 legislative session, one of which allows tenants to stay in their unit after their lease expires if they have nowhere else to go. Only under very limited circumstances could these renters be evicted.
MacKenzie said Boe might have been protected from a lease termination if he had filed a Declaration of Need, the document required to evoke state-level protections from eviction. This document could have allowed Boe to stay in place until June 30, 2021.
However, MacKenzie said this raises another issue with Colorado’s system – it doesn’t fully educate renters about their rights.
“We are seeing tons of folks who don’t know about the protections or that they have to sign a declaration to evoke the protections,” MacKenzie told the Denver VOICE in an emailed statement.
Since Colorado’s protections ended, MacKenzie said the courts that once dismissed eviction holdover cases are now ushering them through. She has also seen cases where tenants obtain rental assistance, pay their landlord back and future rent, and still have eviction proceedings filed against them by landlords.
One way to stem the impending flow of evictions would be to implement protections for apartment lease holdovers similar to those afforded to mobile home residents, MacKenzie added. However, Colorado’s political climate makes it difficult to imagine a path forward for this kind of legislation.
“I can guarantee pushing forth that legislation would be met with great opposition from the Apartment Association, the Tschetter law firm (a Colorado law firm specializing in representing landlords in eviction cases), and other property owner groups,” MacKenzie said.
Allen Poe lived at 1317 N Pearl St, Unit 27. According to tax records from the Denver Assessor’s Office, the building at 1317 Pearl St was sold to a company called 1317 Pearl, LLC. for $3.5 million in October 2020.That LLC was formed in September 2020, and the main address registered for 1317 Pearl, LLC. with the state of Colorado is the same address as Riker Capital, a Chicago based investment company.
THE SYSTEM FAILED
Charlie Hogan, who is the chief operating officer with Cornerstone, said that Boe’s situation was unfortunate. He said Cornerstone tried to offer Boe and the other residents as many opportunities as possible to find a new home before they had to vacate their apartment. Cornerstone also offered to return the rental deposit to all renters and gave an incentive that if renters moved out by November 30, 2021, the renters would receive back one month’s rent.
“Understand that from a property management standpoint, our clients, our customers, are renters,” Hogan said. “We really do come from a place of trying to make sure that we’re providing great customer service.”
Hogan said that Boe and the other residents of the building were on month-to-month leases. Landlords and renters each can find value in this kind of lease because it offers flexibility to both parties. Unfortunately, such a lease also leaves renters vulnerable to a lease that may be terminated by the landlord at any time and with little notice.
According to Hogan, the previous landlord did a disservice to Boe and the others by not signing long-term rental agreements.
Landlords are required by law to give renters a 15-day notice when their lease is being terminated. Cornerstone went beyond that requirement, providing the residents of 1317 N. Pearl St. with a 52-day termination notice.
Hogan said Boe never reached out to Cornerstone to ask about other rental possibilities within the company or explain his circumstances. Instead, Boe stopped paying rent and remained in the apartment beyond the date he was required to move out.
Disputing this claim, Boe said that he has records of the calls he made to Cornerstone, but those calls were focused on getting back his deposit, not asking for help with finding a new apartment.
Cornerstone started the eviction process in December of 2020 but stopped once Boe left the property on December 18. Cornerstone then waived any legal fees associated with beginning the eviction process. Additionally, the company did not pursue the back rent Boe had not paid and returned his security deposit to him.
Hogan said Cornerstone works to offer apartments at competitive rates. The company manages 4,700 apartments, and the company’s average rent is $1,200 per month. This is below the average Denver rental cost of $1,464 according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. The average household income of Cornerstone’s renters is $43,000, well below the Denver median household income of $68,592.
Cornerstone also has more than 100 renters who receive Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, a housing assistance program for low-income individuals.
Hogan said he couldn’t guess at a hypothetical of what he would have done had Boe called the company for help. He also said that because Boe didn’t reach out and instead stopped paying rent, there isn’t much Cornerstone could do. They can’t help someone if they don’t know a renter needs help.
Jim Lorensen, president and founder of Cornerstone, seconded Hogan, adding, “We’re not a social agency. At some point, people need to ask for help. Where is his family? Where are his friends? Where is his church? If [Boe] needed it then he should have asked for assistance. There are systematic failures here, and unfortunately, this guy got caught in that downdraft.”
Lorensen said he believes his company went above and beyond in trying to show compassion to Boe and the other renters of the building. Cornerstone could have pursued collection of the back rent Boe didn’t pay, or they could have kept the deposit in lieu of rent. Instead, Cornerstone issued Boe a new check for the deposit once they learned Boe hadn’t received the first one.
Lorensen also explained that the sale of the Pearl Street property was not a major corporate transaction. “The individual who owns this property is not some wealthy individual or some large corporation. They bought this building as an investment.”
According to tax records from the Denver Assessor’s Office, the building at 1317 Pearl St was sold to a company called 1317 Pearl, LLC. for $3.5 million in October 2020.That LLC was formed in September 2020, and the main address registered for 1317 Pearl, LLC. with the state of Colorado is the same address as Riker Capital, a Chicago based investment company.
Explaining how he felt about being evicted, Boe said bluntly, “It is kind of heartless,” he said. “People should be a lot more understanding of other people’s situation and not be so worried about money.”
MARKETED OUT
Boe said that staying at the Safe Outdoor Space has given him a little hope. He’s seen several of his neighbors get jobs and move out of the camp, and he is saving every penny he can to help him move into a new apartment.
Boe believes he’ll get his chance to find an apartment and is hopeful he will receive some rental assistance. But he fears without assistance he won’t be able to afford an apartment for long.
According to the latest data from the Colorado Association of Realtors (CAR), Denver’s affordability index dropped 10% during 2020. The affordability index measures whether housing is affordable for those earning the median income for the region.
In Denver, the median wage is now approximately 70% of what is necessary to afford a median-priced single-family home and just 78% of what is needed to be competitive in the overall market, according to the index.
One factor for the drop in affordability is the city’s historically low inventory. In March 2007, shortly before the Great Recession began, Denver had more than 25,000 homes listed for sale. In March 2021, that total stood at just over 1,900, representing a 70% year-over-year decline, according to CAR data.
The short supply of homes also has caused home values to appreciate at record paces. Last year, home values appreciated nearly 22% in Denver County, according to CAR. The median home price stands at $635,000 while the average sale price is nearly $100,000 more.
Because of increasing home prices and lower inventory, more individuals are renting. This increased demand for rental properties means an increased cost for apartments, adding financial stress to those with lower incomes.
Meanwhile, the pool of competitors for homes has grown to include private equity and other investment firms. A report by The Wall Street Journal found many firms are investing in large swaths of land and existing apartment structures to renovate and flip for a premium return.
According to the John Burns Consulting Firm out of Houston, investors have likely accounted for around 24% of home sales in real estate boomtowns such as Miami and Las Vegas. The firm also anticipates this trend to continue, which will lead home values to see two more years of double digit increases.
The fast-rising costs of housing in Denver leave individuals like Boe more vulnerable to becoming homeless.
Boe said he never expected to be homeless. He worked his whole life and took care of himself. He never made enough to save much for retirement but hoped his Social Security would be enough so that he wouldn’t have to worry about money once he left work. As Boe pointed out, if this could happen to him, it could happen to anyone.
Explaining how he felt about being evicted, Boe said bluntly, “It is kind of heartless,” he said. “People should be a lot more understanding of other people’s situation and not be so worried about money.” ■