Over several weeks, CPR News has rolled out a series of stories that highlight people struggling to stay housed or find housing due to Colorado's ongoing affordable housing crisis as well as the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
From a man living in a hole in the land he owns in Park County to a group of mobile home residents who successfully purchased their homes from their landlord, we've explored the issue from the points of view of people from all walks of life. Our reporting also led to us meeting several people who work with organizations that work to alleviate housing issues in the state.
Below you’ll find several of those resources and organizations featured in our housing series. Some work directly to provide resources or refer those in need to the appropriate places where they may find help.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the groups doing this kind of work in the state and we welcome emails suggestions on whom to include.
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
The group founded in 1984 works to provide and connect families and individuals with help finding housing, healthcare and some other needs. Visit here for more information.
The Colorado Safe Parking Initiative
The parking initiative runs several sites mostly in the Denver area where people can park and sleep safely overnight in their cars. Anyone seeking to stay at one of the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative's sites must have a permit. Apply at ColoSafeParking.org.
The Golden Girls Project, Grand Junction
Part of The Joseph Center in Grand Junction, this program works to find housing for women in Mesa County who are 50 years and older. The program can house up to five people at a time to help them find housing. Visit here for more information.
The Joseph Center also provides other services, including a day shelter and some food services. Click here for more information.
Lake County Build A Generation
The nonprofit is one that helped a group of mobile home residents in Leadville organize to purchase their homes from their landlord. The group works to educate and organize residents around a number of issues, including housing and food access. Click here for more information.
United for a New Economy
This group works primarily in Aurora, Westminster and Commerce City. Recently it has been working with immigrant residents and families to identify rental assistance programs and apply for them. Visit here for more information.
Other public resources (click text for more information):
Colorado emergency rental assistance program
Colorado emergency mortgage assistance program
Colorado Division of Housing
Denver rent and utility assistance program
Denver's Housing and Homelessness Guide
Legal assistance for fighting an eviction or foreclosure in Denver
Colorado Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (for help paying home heating costs)
Evictions in Colorado: what to know now that CDC eviction moratorium, state protections have expired
- He bought land in Park County before he could afford to build a home. So, he dug a hole there instead and lives in it.
- Older women experiencing homelessness in Grand Junction find a place of peace and progress
- For people sleeping in their cars, parking lots serve as a safe place to get back on their feet
- For one Colorado trans woman, long-term care was her only option for housing — but getting in was an eight-month struggle
- Inside two Colorado mobile-home communities fighting to avoid corporate takeovers — with very different results
- As pandemic funding for Greeley shelter dries up, residents face housing instability and a return to homelessness
- Undocumented families in metro Denver face added barriers as they struggle to keep their housing during the pandemic
- Colorado’s housing crisis explained. CPR News is exploring the issue by meeting the people living through it
