On a December morning, dozens of people cycled through the benches outside Room 163 of the Denver City and County Building. A few cradled children, and some looked at the floor. Deja Balles held a document from her landlord.
It demanded just shy of $2,700 in back rent for October, November and December. Like the others, Balles waited her turn to meet with a tenant advocate or attorney as part of a free eviction defense legal clinic. She hoped she would qualify for rental assistance that might keep her from being kicked out of her apartment during the holiday season.
“I’m just stressed,” the 21-year-old said, voicing concern for her three cats. “I have pets, so I’m more scared about where they are going to go if they don’t give me more time or rent assistance.”
The scene that played out on the ground floor of city hall that morning, just steps from eviction court, has become a regular occurrence in a city where rising rents have left household incomes in the dust and COVID-19-era tenant protections have ended. Denver landlords filed 12,910 evictions last year, according to Denver County Court records — by far the most in any year going back to at least 2008.
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