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

“And I think that’s the right way to go, I think we had it right the rst time.” e motivation for the discussion was a speci c property owner, Betty Yada, who wants to have two STRs on her property — something speci cally disallowed in the ordinance. According to council documents, Yada had what existed before the ordinance de ned short-term rentals — a “Tourist Home.”

“Tourist Homes” functioned similarly, but allowed ve or fewer guest rooms. In comparison, and where the issue lies, STRs only allow one, and Tourist Homes are now only allowed in commercial districts.

After a brief discussion, the majority of council members agreed to not move forward with any

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