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UPRISING

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City of Golden

City of Golden

smaller city, has seen far fewer historical tenant organizing movements, Tapia said. “And I think that is in large part why the landlord lobbies and the real estate lobbies have had so much power in Denver to shape the laws and the conditions in which renters live.”

Tenants claim they were retaliated against when they complained

Jasmine Brior said she has scars on her legs from being bitten by carpenter ants that infested her home at e Reed, which isadvertised on Zillowas “sleek” and “spacious” apartments where renters can enjoy the freedom of having everything they need at their ngertips.

“We would buy bug bombs and Raid and I asked them for pest control and they said they would put me on the schedule and it never happened,” Brior said about the bug infestation.

None of her windows locked, and after the heat stopped working during the winter, Brior says her daughter got frostbite.

Brior uses a state housing voucher to cover her rent, so in May, she asked the state Department of Local A airs to send an inspector to the two-bedroom apartment because Liv Lavender was not making repairs.

When her home failed, Liv Lavender was given 30 days to correct 14 problems, according to a copy of the DOLA report.

Soon after, Brior received a notice from Liv Lavender Property Management that described her as

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On June 6, a few weeks before her lease ended on June 29, she received a notice from Liv Lavender that gave her 10 days to vacate the property. If she did not leave by then, the notice said, the landlord would start the eviction process in court.

Although Powers said she’s happy to leave the Reed, she’s worried about neighbors with more severe problems, who can’t a ord to move.

“ ere’s a lady here who has been defecating in a bucket because they have not xed her plumbing,” she said before Brior showed a video of the woman’s bathroom to e Colorado Sun. “It’s horrible.”

DATU aims to help residents understand that they don’t have to tolerate unlivable conditions, Tapia said. People feel powerless, even when their landlord is violating the law, he said.

“What we’ve found is, when tenants come together, and they speak to their neighbors, and they make their community aware and ght together, they can actually see big changes in their conditions,” he said. “Having this happen more and more is the only way we’re going to have any kind of counter to the big power that the landlords and the real estate lobbies have in Colorado.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media. education.

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