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Denver's rental aid amendment shrank from $5.5 million to $1.7 million. Here's whose budgets still get trimmed

A revised amendment filed Monday afternoon moves $1,724,038 into the city's eviction prevention program, about 31% of the original request. Most agencies' cuts fell to about a fifth of the first version. One Technology Services line kept most of its cut.

By Denver Politics staffUpdated

Denver City Council members went into Monday night's budget meeting with a plan to add $5.5 million to Temporary Rental and Utility Assistance, the city's main eviction prevention program. They came out with a compromise worth roughly $4 million, including about $1.7 million shifted from other parts of the budget, the Denver Gazette reported.

Why it matters: TRUA helps tenants who are behind on rent stay housed. Mayor Mike Johnston's 2027 proposal included $4.5 million, which his administration said would carry the program through June, Colorado Politics reported. The deal brings it to about $8.5 million, according to the Gazette, compared with $15.1 million this year.

Two versions, line by line

Our records show a revised amendment, 26-1673, filed Monday afternoon by Council President Pro Tem Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and members Shontel Lewis and Flor Alvidrez. It moves $1,724,038 to rental assistance, the same mechanism as their original 26-1667: raise the General Fund transfer to the Affordable Housing fund and cut services and supplies budgets elsewhere (revised text, original text).

Here are the cuts in each version, using the $5.5 million text as it stood after its own revision Monday afternoon:

  • Department of Public Safety: $1,347,156 in the original, $339,776 in the revision.
  • Technology Services, operations: $849,310, now $725,869.
  • Housing Stability: $918,450, now $214,305.
  • General Services: $607,020, now $126,463.
  • Technology Services, services and supplies: $576,864, now $120,180.
  • Public Health and Environment: $545,352, now $113,615.
  • Transportation and Infrastructure: $310,090, now $31,009.
  • Finance: $176,218, now $25,174.
  • Parks and Recreation: $109,570, now $15,653.
  • Administration: $48,590, now $9,718.
  • Community Planning and Development: $8,175, now $1,635.
  • Economic Development and Opportunity: $3,205, now $641.

We added both lists. The original's 12 cuts total exactly $5.5 million and the revision's total exactly $1,724,038, the amounts each amendment moves into housing assistance.

What the numbers show

Most cuts fell to about a fifth. On six of the 12 lines, the revised cut is 20% to 21% of the original; Housing Stability's is 23% and Public Safety's 25%. Transportation's fell furthest, to 10%, and Finance's and Parks' to about 14%.

One line kept most of its cut. The Technology Services operations line keeps $725,869 of its original $849,310, about 85%. That single line is 42% of the revised amendment. Counting both of its lines, Technology Services now supplies $846,049, about half the total.

Public safety's share shrank. The Department of Public Safety was the largest source in the original. In the revision it gives up a quarter as much and is second to Technology Services.

The revised amendment does not explain how the numbers were chosen, and the Gazette's report does not break down where the rest of the roughly $4 million comes from.

What our records add

The result is not posted yet. As of Tuesday morning, the city's legislative system had not recorded which TRUA version came to a vote, the outcome, or a roll call (meeting). Our story on Monday's results has what is known about the other amendments.

A separate, smaller ask. Council President Diana Romero Campbell, Alvidrez and Darrell Watson also filed 26-1670, $400,000 from Technology Services to keep case management and TRUA help going for Denver Public Schools families through the school year. Coverage has not said what happened to it.

The program's terms. TRUA offers up to six months of rental assistance, according to the city's Department of Housing Stability, as reported by Colorado Politics; the average award is about $7,300. Landlords filed 15,953 eviction cases last year, more than double the city's five-year goal of 6,600, the Gazette reported. Johnston has said decisions on later 2027 funding would wait for a Harvard University evaluation of the program, according to Colorado Politics.

What's next

  • By noon Thursday, Nov. 6: Johnston accepts or vetoes each amendment that passed.
  • Monday, Nov. 9: Possible veto overrides, which need nine votes, and the final budget vote, 26-1547.
  • 2027: The Harvard evaluation. Any additional TRUA money later in the year would need Council approval.