Lower-income residents of Denver who face eviction would have access to a permanent legal representation program under a proposed ordinance from two Denver council members, although the draft policy does not raise any new revenue to fund itself.

Councilwomen Candi CdeBaca and Amanda Sawyer unveiled at a virtual meeting on Friday a two-page draft ordinance seeking to emulate other cities that have attempted to correct the imbalance of resources between landlords who almost always retain attorneys, and the renters who almost never do.

“An eviction makes it exponentially harder for someone to ever climb out of the hole of homelessness,” said CdeBaca, who represents Council District 9 in downtown and north Denver.

In 2018, the council established an eviction legal defense pilot program using $131,500, with eligibility for households whose income fell below 200% of the poverty level. The proposed ordinance would limit eligibility to those earning 80% of area median income, which for one person in Denver is $54,950, and is approximately $85,000 for a household of four. Citizenship status will not be a criterion for receiving services.

“If you are being threatened with eviction or termination of your housing subsidies, you have the right to legal representation,” explained Sawyer, who is the representative for east Denver in Council District 5. “There will be a job created in HOST that will establish a tenant services program, and they will contract with nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to actually do this work for community members.”

HOST, which is the city’s Department of Housing Stability, is where CdeBaca and Sawyer intend to locate a new office of tenant legal services.

Julia Stewart, president of The Gathering Place daytime drop-in center for impoverished women, transgender individuals and their children, welcomed the proposed ordinance.

“Once a person has been evicted, it can become nearly impossible to get into another rental unit.  We see a lot of people who have become homeless because no landlord will rent to them with an eviction on their record,” Stewart said. “Studies show providing full legal representation for low-income tenants, as this ordinance proposes to do, results in fair settlements to eviction disputes that are less likely to force people into homelessness. We believe this could have a really positive impact for the people who come to The Gathering Place for services.”

New York City, where 70% of households rent, established a right-to-counsel program in 2017, which the jurisdiction is phasing in by ZIP code. The city’s Office of Civil Justice reported that roughly 38% of tenants appeared at evictions proceedings with legal representation in early 2020, compared with 1% in 2013. Of those represented, 86% were ultimately able to stay in their homes.

Separately from the council members’ effort, the group No Eviction Without Representation (NEWR) Denver has filed an initiated ordinance with the city to enact a similar tenant defense program through the ballot box. NEWR Denver’s proposal, based on that which Boulder voters approved last year, would impose taxes on landlords per rental unit to fund a legal services program open to all residents. The revenue raised would amount to roughly $12 million per year.

However, the state’s main property management association has voiced opposition to the notion of injecting money into court proceedings on the side of tenants.

“All money appropriated to help residents preserve housing should be focused on rental assistance programs that will help them pay rent, not on programs to fund attorneys in lawsuits against rental housing providers,” said Drew Hamrick, general counsel and senior vice president of government affairs for the Colorado Apartment Association. (Landlords, not tenants, initiate eviction proceedings.)

Although renters may choose to leave on their own after a property owner posts a demand to pay or vacate the premises, an eviction refers to the legal process by which a landlord bars a tenant from their home. An unfavorable court judgment could affect the ability to rent in the future, and an eviction may appear on credit reports for years.

According to data CdeBaca and Sawyer gathered from Denver County Court, there were 9,249 evictions in the city in 2019, and 3,912 in 2020 — even though the state and federal governments had taken actions to discourage or halt evictions.

CdeBaca sought to assure landlords during Friday’s virtual meeting that the intent of the ordinance was not to stick landlords with problematic tenants for longer than desired.

“If somebody is breaking their lease or has not paid, we are not necessarily trying to handcuff you from getting a new tenant in your space,” she said. “What we’re trying to do is give tenants an opportunity to communicate with landlords on a level playing field. Having legal representation doesn’t mean a judge is going to rule someone can stay in their house if they have broken a lease.”

Sawyer added that landlords to whom she has spoken, who generally managed fewer units, have indicated a preference for arriving at a solution that keeps people housed without having to resort to the court system.

The draft ordinance does not contain a funding mechanism, nor does it appropriate a specific dollar amount. CdeBaca explained a revenue source may be a topic of conversation after the city better understands what the demand is for the program.

The eviction defense proposal, according to the sponsors, will be on the agenda for the council’s Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee on May 5.