Racial Inequities: Black Coloradans often face barriers in homeownership

the applicants visited properties, landlords denied their applications. is happened over and over again.

BY NINA JOSS AND HALEY LENA NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM; HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A few years ago, Aurora Warms the Night, an Aurora-based nonpro t serving people who need housing, ran into a challenge when assisting its Black clients in applying for apartments. When

So the team decided to take a di erent approach, sending in White volunteers to check out the apartments rst.

“I would send one of our employees or people that were White to look at the apartment — to get the pricing, get everything, to make sure everything was available,” said Brian Arnold, who was executive director of the group at the time ve years ago. “After that, we did the application online and sent it in without them being able to see the person.”

Once the application got approved, the team at Aurora Warms the Night would let the real estate agents see the client was Black. Arnold said this process worked almost every time and became the organization’s own way of making a dent in the discrimination that people of color may face, but nd

“I’m not familiar with the historical signi cance,” Janes said. “ e tennis courts were built in 1974; we have parks maintenance workers who’ve been here for three decades — this was a surprise. My hunch is it’s been covered up for a long time.

“It’s very cool and retro-looking,” Janes continued. “ e unique look of the wall has generated interest into the city’s plan.”

Janes said that plan is still up in the air. e wall is assembled using a tongue and groove method, which generally requires a more unique skill set to restore. Janes added that some of the wood has rotten and would have to be replaced. e wall was likely used to practice tennis individually.

“Right now, we’re exploring and gathering information to determine how much it would cost to restore