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following month’s rent at the end of June, his landlord wouldn’t accept it. He was late last month, he remembers being told, and now was being served with an eviction notice. Last month’s late rent had already gone towards paying the landlord’s legal fees, Tsegay was told.

“I didn’t know what to do,” he said.

Tsegay turned to a recently launched Arapahoe County program aimed at keeping people housed in a county that had the highest eviction rate last year, according to state court data, with over 9,000 evictions.

The eviction clinic, which began in May, is located on the third fl oor of the county building at 1690 W. Littleton Boulevard and is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between 8 and 11 a.m.

A partnership with Colorado Legal Services — a statewide nonprofi t providing civil legal services to low-income residents — the clinic, which offers free legal aid, is funded through a slice of the American Rescue Plan Act , or ARPA, a $1.9 trillion federal COVID-aid law.

Currently, there are just two clinic staff members, a paralegal and a lawyer — Megan O’Byrne, who is a supervising attorney at Colorado Legal Services.

With demand high and thin staff, O’Byrne said the clinic is only able to see about nine people per week.

“We often have to turn people away, unfortunately, so we are working on getting additional staff,” said O’Byrne, who is hoping the clinic will eventually see two lawyers, a paralegal and even a social worker to help clients navigate the emotional toll of eviction.

“I don’t think people think about eviction very often in terms of what actually happens,” O’Byrne said. “The trauma of having all of your belongings, everything you own scattered on the street, and being locked out of your home.”

The legal process that comes with an eviction can be intimidating, said O’Byrne, and often tenants cannot succeed in staying housed without legal help.

According to Jon Asher, Colorado Legal Service’s executive director, over 90% of landlords are represented by a lawyer while less than 5% of tenants are.

O’Byrne said in recent years the scales have begun to tip — albeit very slightly — as more attorneys representing tenants pop up around the metro area.

“There are more tenant attorneys in Colorado than when I started even three years ago,” O’Byrne said. “But we still are limited in what we can do.”

An eviction process usually takes between two to three weeks before a tenant could be forced out of their home, giving O’Byrne a small and crucial window of time to act.

In most cases, O’Byrne sees a tenant threatened with eviction because of trouble paying rent on time. Colorado law requires landlords demanding rent give 10 days to accept payment before issuing an eviction lawsuit. In some cases tenants can win up to 30 days, though that is less common, O’Byrne said.

If that time passes without the tenant being able to make the payment, the lawsuit will be served — the stage in which the clinic steps in to help.

Clinic staff usually begin by providing tenants with their response, called an “answer,” to the lawsuit. O’Byrne said this is a critical step as responses need solid legal grounds to protect a tenant and trigger an eviction trial.

Some tenants will try and craft answers on their own and may say they are working to get the rent money, but that itself is not enough in most cases, O’Byrne said.

“It seems in a fair and just world that would be enough ... but unfortunately, that’s not a legal defense,” she said.

If the clinic is successful in how tenants respond to the lawsuit, tenants will go to a trial, usually scheduled seven days after the response is given.

During that time, the clinic works with the Colorado Stability Fund — which provides rent assistance — to get the needed money to the landlord which usually will see a trial dismissed.

This was the case for Tsegay, who was able to have enough rent assistance money to dismiss the eviction lawsuit. He said he remembers receiving his eviction notice as one of the “darkest, darkest days in my life.”

In the event money cannot be provided, the clinic can use the trial to secure tenants additional time to fi nd new homes as well as keep evictions off their records, which can serve as a major barrier to future housing.

The clinic’s services come as the high price of food, gas and other essentials eat away at paychecks and eviction rates are on the rise nationally as pandemic rental aid begins to run out.

While county commissioners have approved funding for the clinic for three years — to the tune of $1.5 million in ARPA funds — clinic staff and county leaders hope it can continue for longer.

They’re optimistic the program will be a success, citing a similar service in Adams County that 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.

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

But as the clinic looks to secure more staff, it will take more than just a small room of lawyers to meet the needs of those facing housing issues in the county, O’Byrne said.

With the break-neck nature of an eviction lawsuit, which can barely span a pay period, O’Byrne said landlords should work with their tenants before pursuing such an option.

“I think the landlords could be more patient in fi ling the case,” she said, adding that nearly all her clients with eviction cases have applied for rental assistance. “They are trying to get money to the landlord.”

The economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising rent prices and a lack of affordable housing have created compounding crises for low-income tenants, O’Byrne said.

“People are just still trying to get on their feet after this worldwide catastrophe,” O’Byrne said. “Until we decide as a society that housing is a human right and everyone’s entitled to a home, we’re not going anywhere,” she said.

Megan O’Byrne, supervising attorney at Colorado Legal Services, sits in an o ce in

Arapahoe County’s recently launched eviction clinic. PHOTO BY ROBERT TANN

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State taxes on diapers and menstrual products eliminated

BY SONIA GUTIERREZ ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

People who buy diapers, pads and tampons will no longer pay state sales taxes in Colorado.

The bipartisan law exempting menstrual products and diapers from state sales and use taxes went into effect on August 10.

Previously, the state sales tax code considered pads, tampons, and diapers a luxury item, excluding them from tax exemptions. This new law recognizes those items as a necessity, so they are now exempt from state sales taxes.

“People didn’t even realize these products were taxed from the beginning,” said Louise Myrland, vice president of programs for the Women’s Foundation of Colorado. “This new law will help many Coloradans who need it most.”

The state projects more than 200,000 children will be in diapers next fi scal year. Myrland said each of those families are spending about $1,000 a year on diapers. This tax exemption will mean a meaningful savings for those families.

“There are estimates that one in three families with kids in diapers have reported they’ve needed access to more diapers than they have,” said Myrland, “and it’s because of cost.”

“Parents have reported missing work because they couldn’t provide all the diapers a care center might need,” she continued. “Which means parents can’t work to support their families, making the problem worse.”

While the state is exempting menstrual, period products and diapers from state taxes, some cities will not be exempting them from city taxes.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado is developing a toolkit to help community members work with their local elected offi cials to enact the same kind of tax exemptions for these products on a city level. Denver and Aurora are two cities that have recently exempted these products from city taxes. That means people in those cities will see greater savings.

The new law will decrease state revenue on an ongoing basis, according to the fi scal note. The state is expecting a decrease in

The state no longer charges taxes on diapers and feminine products as of Aug. 10.

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