Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order Friday temporarily blocking the eviction of thousands of Coloradans who are behind on rent and are awaiting rental assistance from the state, a short-term version of a move endorsed by a broad coalition of local officials and housing advocates. 

Polis’s order blocks landlords from evicting renters who’ve applied for rental assistance and are still awaiting its arrival. It gives renters 30 days to “cure” their back-rent, which advocates say has been delayed often because of the state’s review process and timing. The order forestalls what housing advocates warned was a looming wave of evictions, set to be triggered by the Sunday expiration of two other protections.

Those two orders – a previous Polis order that gave renters 30 days to address back rent and a federal mandate that blocked evictions for tenants financially impacted by the pandemic – have been in place for months. Though housing advocates have praised them as vital to keeping many tenants housed, they’ve also complained that the state’s distribution of rental assistance is still backlogged. Many renters, the advocates have said, wait several weeks between applying and receiving the money; without more time to address past-due rent, many would be evicted before rental assistance arrives.

A problem by itself, the lag was particularly concerning to advocates with the expiration of the federal moratorium and Polis’s longer grace period. Renters, they said, could soon be evicted while they awaited the state to finally work through their application.

The COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, which had called on Polis to institute a longer version of this latest order, praised the order Friday but stressed that more time was needed for renters.

“The new executive order will give some tenants waiting on rental assistance an additional 20 days to make payment on back rent,” the organization said in a statement. “While this will offer renters some relief, it does not go far enough. We continue to ask the Governor to implement the more straightforward, comprehensive proposal recommended earlier this week by a broad, bi-partisan coalition of mayors, local elected officials, and community groups.”

It’s unclear if the problems that have plagued the housing assistance program will be addressed in the 30 days during which Polis’s order will give protection to tenants. A spokesman for the Department of Local Affairs did not respond to a list of questions sent earlier this week. Messages sent to the department and to Polis’s office were not immediately returned Friday. 

A factsheet released by the local affairs department said that processing times for applications hvae been “expedited … from an average of 90 days in the spring to under two weeks currently.” 

The agency “also continues discussions with its third-party vendor to implement new methods to expedite approvals, payments, and to improve customer experience.” 

Drew Hamrick, senior vice president for governmental affairs with the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, said in an email that he worried some tenants would abuse the 30-day window and would file for rental assistance only when on the very brink of eviction. Pointing to high levels of rent payment, he downplayed the frequent chorus of housing advocates that a tidal wave of evictions awaits.

“At any rate, it doesn’t seem like the continuation of good news on the housing front has much effect on the crisis advocates’ continuing calls for crisis is looming just around the corner,” he said.

Earlier this week, a group including state and local business and government leaders wrote Polis a letter urging him to give more time to renters who’re awaiting aid from the state. Unlike Polis’s order, the group asked for a halt to evictions on people awaiting rent from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30. On Oct. 1, a new law will kick in that gives tenants more time to pay rent.

Rick Garcia, the executive director of the local affairs department, said in a statement that the “time is now to be proactive in pursuing relief.”

“Both landlords and tenants should remain in close contact with DOH regarding their applications, and landlords should refrain from evicting their tenants for nonpayment while they are pursuing help,” he said.

Advocates have long warned about the lengthy delays in the rental assistance program. Though the state is not currently publishing how many outstanding applications have yet to be processed, Kinsey Hasstedt of Enterprise Community Partners said that data from earlier this month indicated that more than 20,000 applications and more than $100 million in aid are still pending. The state’s online tracking, which does not include pending applications, indicates that the state has approved more than 40,600 applications totaling just over $118 million.

“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, earlier this week.