Denver’s housing stability team is putting safeguards in place before the temporary federal eviction moratorium, imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to control COVID-19, expires at the end of this year.

The city’s Temporary Rent and Utility Assistance Program has been in record demand for months, even as many people returned to work after public health restrictions in spring all but shut the city down completely. The first three months of the year drew in 522 TRUA applications, but the rate spiked to nearly five times as many from July through September.

“We’re seeing folks who wouldn’t have previously needed to apply for rental assistance and were previously higher income now applying,” Melissa Thate, head of housing policy for Denver’s Department of Housing Stability, said in a Denver City Council committee Wednesday.

A September report by the National Council of State Housing Agencies, a nonpartisan association of state housing finance providers, estimates Colorado will see $469 million or more in unpaid rent and 140,000 eviction filings by January 2021.

Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 are skyrocketing across the state and in Denver, pushing city officials closer to enacting a second stay-at-home order – a blow the city’s health director indicated last week was inevitable.

Unemployment rates are also surging. The number of first-time unemployment claims filed in Colorado last week was the highest in three months, despite the number of people receiving unemployment benefits falling to a six-month low.

Denver’s housing officials told the City Council committee that, although they are grateful for Gov. Jared Polis’ statewide eviction moratorium announced last month, they still need to secure more funding to prepare for the federal moratorium expiring at the end of the year and ensure there is “not a gap in services,” Thate said.

HOST is asking for $2.5 million more in funding to ensure further rental assistance for households earning 80% or less of the Area Median Income, which amounts to $54,950 for a one-person household and $62,800 for a household with two people.

TRUA provided payments to 1,796 unduplicated households, worth $3.89 million, between January and September, according to HOST. Over that time, program resources primarily served people of color living in households earning below 30% AMI, or $24,000 for a two-person household.

The average length of assistance provided to residents this year is three months, up 30 days compared to last year. The average amount of rental assistance this year is $1,400, a 21% increase compared to 2019.

The funding has been a godsend to residents, but housing officials and community members agree many more dollars are needed.

Jesus Gonzalez, an organizer for the East Colfax Community Collective, said he helped numerous neighbors get assistance from the TRUA program in the early months of the pandemic, but now at least 39 residents in the area say their applications were put hold.

“Our community members are stuck with really deep uncertainty about whether they’re going to be able to stay in their home,” he told council members during the committee, advocating that the funds be better targeted toward neighborhoods like East Colfax, which is known for its large immigrant and refugee population.

The City Council committee advanced the funding requests to the full council without objection. The council will vote on them later this month.