Denver’s Housing Crisis -
In Denver right now, the cost of housing is rising faster than many of us can wrap our heads around. Imagine paying over half your income just to keep a roof over your head. For one in four renters in Colorado, this isn't just a fear — it's reality.
- 1 in 4 renters in Colorado spends over 50% of their income on housing, leaving little for food, healthcare, or transportation.
- In 2024, Denver saw more than 14,000 eviction filings, surpassing the 12,910 filed in 2023 and marking a record high for the city.
- Colorado’s homeless population grew by 90% from 2020 to 2024, the fourth highest growth rate in the country.
- Homelessness among families with children in Colorado grew by 134% in 2024, according to federal reports.
Meanwhile, wages for service workers, caregivers, and many frontline workers have barely moved. Families, seniors, and individuals who were barely holding on last year are now slipping through the cracks. At The Gathering Place (TGP), we see this crisis play out every day — not in news headlines or policy reports, but in the faces and stories of the people who walk through our doors.
Who’s Showing Up at TGP Right Now?
At The Gathering Place, the housing crisis is not an abstract issue. Here's how it's impacting the people we serve and why it's worsening every day. In 2024, TGP recorded nearly 37,000 visits from women, gender-diverse people, and their children — and the need keeps growing.
Who are they?
- Over 60% report having no permanent housing.
- 1 in 3 are families with children — caregivers trying to keep their kids fed, housed, and safe.
- Many are survivors of domestic violence who had to flee for their lives, often with nothing.
- More and more, we are seeing trans and nonbinary individuals seeking a space where they are respected, protected, and understood — especially as anti-trans legislation rises nationally.
- Older adults on fixed incomes, some with disabilities or chronic illnesses, are showing up because their Social Security check no longer stretches far enough.
- And importantly, many of our members are working — in service jobs, caregiving, or gig work — but their wages no longer cover rent, groceries, and transportation in Denver.
These are the people behind the numbers — people showing immense resilience and strength, but who need a community that has their back. This is what the housing crisis looks like: not just tents on sidewalks, but families in motel rooms, survivors couch-surfing, people doubled or tripled up in tiny apartments, and seniors quietly going without heat or medicine to afford rent.
Why It’s Getting Worse
The housing crisis isn’t just about rising rents — it’s a perfect storm of overlapping challenges:
- Evictions are on the rise now that pandemic-era protections have ended. Once someone has an eviction on their record, it’s harder to rent again, locking them into unstable situations.
- The cost of basic needs — food, transportation, utilities — has surged due to inflation. Even small increases in rent or groceries push families over the edge.
- Colorado has an affordable housing shortage of more than 100,000 units — and developers are rarely incentivized to build for the lowest-income residents.
- Mental health and substance use treatment programs are underfunded, leaving people with no support when they hit a crisis point.
- Systemic racism, transphobia, ableism, and discrimination continue to push marginalized groups into deeper poverty and less safe housing. For BIPOC families, generational wealth gaps mean fewer buffers when a crisis hits.
- Shelter beds are limited — and many shelters are not accessible to families, people with pets, trans or nonbinary individuals, or those with trauma histories that make congregate shelters unsafe.
When you zoom out, you see the bigger truth:
Housing instability is not about individual failures. It’s about structural failures — and every single person locked out of safe, affordable housing is paying the price.
What Needs to Change
We can’t solve Denver’s housing crisis alone — but we can be part of the solution.
It’s time to move beyond band-aids. We need real, systemic change to stop the flood of people into homelessness and lift those already struggling back to stability.
Here’s what we believe must happen:
✅ Invest in affordable housing — not just luxury builds.
We need local and state governments, developers, and community organizations to prioritize housing that is truly affordable for low-income families, disabled individuals, and seniors on fixed incomes. We cannot build our way out of this with high-rent apartments alone.
✅ Expand eviction prevention and renters’ rights protections.
Eviction is one of the fastest routes into homelessness. Stronger legal protections, emergency rental assistance, and better access to legal services can stop the spiral before it starts.
✅ Increase access to mental health care and substance use services.
We need fully funded, trauma-informed services — available without impossible waitlists — so people can get help when they need it, not when they’ve already lost everything.
✅ Raise wages and strengthen the social safety net.
Many of TGP’s members are working — but they aren’t earning enough to survive. Raising the minimum wage, expanding food and childcare assistance, and protecting healthcare access all help keep families housed.
✅ Fight discrimination head-on.
BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and immigrant communities are overrepresented in homelessness not because of who they are — but because of the discrimination they face in housing, employment, healthcare, and policing. We need policies and practices that intentionally address and dismantle these inequities.
✅ Listen to people with lived experience.
The people closest to the problem are also closest to the solutions. We need to center the voices of those who know firsthand what works — because they’ve survived it.
What You Can Do Today
- Donate → Support TGP’s work providing immediate resources and long-term pathways to stability.
- Learn & Advocate → Get informed on local housing policies; contact your city and state representatives to demand action.
- Share This Blog → Help more people understand what’s really happening in Denver right now.
Together, we can push back against the rising tide of displacement and instability — and stand in solidarity with our neighbors who deserve safe, stable, and affordable homes.
