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pandemic and sometimes beyond that,” said Jon Asher, the nonprofit’s executive director, who added that he hopes the clinic will lead to “a signifi cant increase in the number of Arapahoe County residents we can help.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Arapahoe County had one of the metro area’s highest eviction rates, according to a county press release. In 2021, Arapahoe saw the most evictions of any county in Colorado with over 9,000, according to Asher.

Using money allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a $1.9 trillion federal COVID-aid law, county commissioners recently voted to approve $1.5 million to fund the clinic for three years.

“We have been looking at this program for a while before we even had ARPA dollars because of the eviction rates in the county,” said County Commissioner Nancy Jackson.

Asher said it will be enough to maintain at least one lawyer and paralegal at the clinic, though he said he hopes to hire a social worker at some point in the future.

Asher said the clinic’s services can help area residents navigate a legal process that is “complicated and intimidating” and often doesn’t serve low-income renters. According to Asher, over 90% of landlords are represented by a lawyer while less than 5% of tenants are.

The clinic will be able to help residents fi ght unlawful evictions, gain tenants additional time to fi nd new housing and keep evictions off tenants’ records, which Asher said can create greater barriers to fi nding new housing.

“It’s my hope we will level the playing fi eld and make the legal process more just and fair to tenants in Arapahoe County,” Asher said.

Evictions have been rising county and nationwide following the end of federal moratoriums put in place to protect renters during the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Asher said that his nonprofi t, which has 13 offi ces across the state, has seen a major uptick in renters seeking help.

“Evictions are not just a result of poverty but they cause poverty,” Asher said, adding that “the biggest problem is the high cost and lack of available, low cost housing in the metro area.”

Jackson said the county has not conducted a study into the factors behind Arapahoe’s high eviction numbers, but also believes housing affordability is a root cause.

“People’s ability to pay rent has not kept up with the increasing costs,” Jackson said.

The social and mental effects of eviction are also great, Asher said, forcing renters to sometimes fi nd new jobs and relocate children to new schools.

“I think the emotional toll that it takes is immense,” Asher said.

Asher said he is hopeful the clinic in Arapahoe County will be successful and said a similar program in Adams County, which also partnered with Colorado Legal Services, has helped many area residents.

According to Arapahoe County’s press release, the Adams County program represented 695 people across 363 households, 85% of which were able to stay housed by gaining more time to move elsewhere or by obtaining a housing voucher.

While the funding is for three years, Jackson said it’s possible that, should the program prove successful, it could be extended using other funding sources.

“My hope and my hunch is this pilot will prove its worth and we’ll be able to continue the program,” Jackson said.

The clinic is located at the Arapahoe County building at 1690 W. Littleton Boulevard.

PHOTO BY ROBERT TANN

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Project to cost up to $8 million

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

After six years of growing the Backcountry Wildnerness Area Base Camp program in Highlands Ranch, the community association is moving forward with designing the Backcountry Outdoor Center to headquarter existing and future services.

On May 9 and May 17, the Highlands Ranch Community Association Board of Directors and delegates approved moving the Backcountry Outdoor Center to the Community Involvement Process to begin getting feedback. The project outlines two phases, with the construction of a Environmental Education Center housing offices, a nature preschool and program space in the first phase, and an indoor arena and horse corral updates in phase two.

Currently, the backcountry staff do not have a centralized office space and programs are weather dependent without any indoor space in the backcountry wilderness area. With programs mostly contained to summer months, the backcountry doesn’t have a source of year-round revenue.

Additionally, current programs can’t meet the existing demand, especially when it comes to programs for young children.

“We’ve done all of this so far without a building, which I think is pretty remarkable but it means we’ve been dependent on the Law Enforcement Training Facility,”

A map shows where the proposed Environmental Education Center would be constructed at the Backcountry Base Camp area. The center would house a nature preschool, classrooms for events and camps, and o ces for the backcountry sta .

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explained Mark Giebel, director of the Backcountry Wilderness Area. “When we have to use that building for shelter, the programs have to stop. We can’t do any lessons or games in there, so it’s not an ideal situation at all.”

Next to the backcountry Base Camp on Ron King Trail is the Law Enforcement Training Facility, which allows the backcountry programs to utilize the building in inclement weather. The space limitations have kept programs from growing to meet their full demand.

Giebel said camps started with just 100 participants and have exploded to the maximum of 1,300 children enrolled and a lengthy waitlist. The backcountry programs are also limited on the kind of childcare license they can have without a dedicated building.

“We’re not serving our biggest demographic of 3, 4, 5 and 6-year-olds,” Giebel said. “Not being able to serve that demographic is hurting us for sure. Also, we struggle to host community programs, senior programs and school programs without shelter.”

A full third of the proposed education center would be a nature preschool where children spend most of the day learning outside.

“There’s a ton of research out there showing the benefits of youth spending time outdoors and they just don’t have the opportunities we had as kids,” Giebel said. “Being able to provide these opportunities is a huge benefit to kids in our community.”

Building the Environmental Education Center is projected to cost betwen $7 and $8 million, which will be paid for through the capital improvement fund that comes from a portion of homeowners’ association dues.

The proposed indoor arena would follow the education center and allow the backcountry area to offer yearround lessons and expand camps.

“I keep on talking about these buildings as investments, so what exactly are we investing in? For one, the future of the backcountry,” Giebel said. “We’re also investing in our community.”

With the approval of the board and delegates to start the Community Involvement Process, there will be a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 14 at Southridge Community Center. The base camp will also host a kick-off party at 8:30 a.m. June 4 to show off the planned sites for the new buildings.

Following the Community Involvement Process, the board and delegates will get a second vote to move the project into the Douglas County approval process. Construction is planned for the fall of 2023.

‘We’ve done all of this so far without a building, which I think is pretty remarkable but it means we’ve been dependent on the Law Enforcement Training Facility. When we have to use that building for shelter, the programs have to stop. We can’t do any lessons or games in there, so it’s not an ideal situation at all.’