On July 31, two governmental orders that shield renters from eviction will expire.

If neither is extended, then renters, many of whom continue to wait weeks for aid from the state, will be without protection for the first time since the pandemic began. Housing advocates warn about the risks of the the change, and dozens of officials from across the state and different industries have called on Gov. Jared Polis to step in.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instituted an order in September 2020 blocking evictions for those who’re behind on rent and have been financially impacted by the pandemic. Polis for months kept an executive order on the books that gives indebted tenants longer to pay back the rent. Both of those will end Saturday.

The federal government allocated billions of dollars for rental assistance across relief packages passed earlier this year. But much of Colorado’s share hasn’t been distributed to renters in need, despite tens of thousands of applications seeking tens of millions of dollars. Advocates say burdensome requirements from the federal government have slowed the application process and made it more likely that the requests be rejected or delayed. The state takes weeks to respond to applications, and even if they’re approved immediately, it can still take more time to actually receive the money, advocates said.

“We helped people submit applications in March, and some haven’t gotten approval yet,” said Kalena Wang, the housing systems campaign manager for the East Colfax Community Collective.

She called the current situation “maddening and frustrating.” For months, the state updated an online dashboard tracking the number of applications filed versus those approved. The application part of the dashboard has been taken down for “construction,” but Kinsey Hasstedt of Enterprise Community Partners said recent data showed nearly 60,000 applications were pending seeking more than $249 million.

According to state data detailing applications approved money paid out, fewer than 35,000 and $95 million have been approved. State statistics show people of color have applied in larger numbers: Hispanic residents are nearly one and a half times as likely to apply for aid as their share of the state population would indicate. For Black tenants, that number is three and a half times out of proportion.

Both of those groups have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, advocates said.

“We have to remember that there are still communities hardest hit by the pandemic, both health and economically, and they’re going to take longer to recover and will continue to need assistance,” Hasstedt said. 

A spokesman for the Department of Local Affairs did not respond to a list of questions sent Tuesday. A previously scheduled agency news conference was cancelled Tuesday.

It took three months for one tenant the East Colfax organization worked with to receive the money after the application was approved. In Wang’s experience, it typically takes three to four weeks for an application to be reviewed after it’s been submitted. Under that timeline and without Polis’s order, renters would be vulnerable to eviction for weeks before they see any aid from the state.

Though Wang and others said some patient landlords are willing to wait for the aid, the warned that others are tired of delays, have mortgages to pay and are preparing to move forward with eviction proceedings.

“We’re very concerned,” Wang said. “We foresee a flood of evictions coming very, very quickly. We have some good partnerships with larger landlord companies in the East Colfax neighborhood who’ve agreed to not proceed with the eviction process if someone has applied for (assistance). … (But) honestly, landlords are fed up.”

Communication has consistently been a problem, Wang and other housing advocates said. The review team at the Division of Housing may reach out and say they’re missing one of a stack of documents needed to complete an application. Or, Wang said, they won’t respond at all, and an applicant won’t know that their request is hung up until they check themselves. 

The low-income and immigrant population that Wang’s organization works with often don’t have computers or printers, and the various documents needed to prove income and other requirements further strangle the process. 

Peter LiFari, the executive director of Maiker Housing Partners, said recent federal legislation for rental aid money “went in a completely different direction” than assistance approved earlier in 2020. LiFari said that the new application requirements from the U.S. Treasury Department ask tenants provide extensive documentation to prove they’re truly in need and slowed the process to a crawl.

The federal government hinted that there may be “recapture” – meaning that states may have to repay some assistance – if there’s fraud or abuse, leading to tighter controls, LiFari said.

Under the new program, landlords aren’t allowed to apply for assistance in bulk on behalf of their tenants. If, for instance, 10 tenants all need rental aid, the landlord must apply for each individually.

The Treasury Department, LiFari said, needs to make it “crystal clear” to states that they can loosen requirements and not face potential penalties. 

“It’s a 10-page application process for applicants, which are tenants,” he said. Under the CARES Act, adopted in spring 2020, the application was two pages. “Tenants could have language barriers, there’s all these barriers that tenants face. Now the burden is on them. They have to provide copious amounts of documentation that weren’t required (previously).” 

The situation was muddied from the start, when the CDC initially released its order nearly a year ago. The order was vague enough and state judicial officials’ guidance so absent that different courts in Colorado implemented it differently, advocates have said. 

There are solutions, advocates said. Congress could ease requirements or assuage anxieties at the state level. The state could hire more reviewers to speed the applications, said Zach Neumann of the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, distributing money could be streamlined.

In a letter sent earlier this week, dozens of mayors, legislators, housing advocates, hospitals, school districts and other institutions asked Polis for a new executive order blocking evictions for tenants who applied for aid and haven’t received it. 

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The delays are “resulting in considerable unpaid housing debt, and instability for tenants and landlords alike,” the officials wrote. “No one eligible for rental assistance should be put out of their homes, especially because of systemic factors beyond their control. Allowing hardworking renters to be evicted at this point in Colorado’s recovery would cause particular harm to individuals, families, and our community.” 

Polis spokesman Conor Cahill did not answer when asked if the governor was considering instituting such an order. He wrote in a statement that Polis “and his team review all input including letters and appreciate the engagement of so many Coloradans on this important issue.”

“The U.S. Census Bureau asks people every month, or every couple of weeks actually, ‘Are you behind on your rent?'” Neumann warned. “Right now, that survey indicates over 200,000 people in Colorado are behind. What happens next is anyone’s guess.”