Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership

Homeless Union

Homelessness is the most visible and hot-button expression of our housing crisis, in Colorado Springs and across the nation. From our elected officials to media outlets, neighborhood organizations to social service agencies, everyone is talking about homelessness in our community. But in all of these conversations, one critical voice is always missing: that of unhoused residents themselves

To remedy this, we partnered with Westside Cares to form the Colorado Springs Homeless Union in the Fall of 2023. We recruited leaders with lived experience through connections Westside Cares staff had through their work and PHP staff had through their neighborhood. Leaders quickly identified four goals to work towards: 1) greater diversity in shelter options, 2) more humane and productive forms of street outreach, 3) free bus transit for those who could demonstrate need, and 4) bathrooms and trash cans in public parks.

Leaders read a letter to city council in October outlining these goals and asking for the city’s support. We returned in February after a ten-day arctic blast underscored the need for one of their goals: greater diversity in shelter options. We received a lot of pushback from members of city council and leadership of the city’s primary shelter, Springs Rescue Mission. Despite this pushback, we will continue to organize and shift the narrative around homelessness, forming part of the broader housing justice movement the Pro-Housing Partnership is working to build.

FAQs

Why is housing so expensive in Colorado Springs?

Housing is a complex issue and there’s no one cause for the astronomical rise in housing costs in our city over the past five years. But a few of the most important factors:

  1. Against the backdrop of this rapidly deepening crisis, our city government has done virtually nothing—it spends $0 of city money every year to create or preserve affordable housing, has passed no tenant protections, put no limits on real estate speculation, and required nothing of the developers and landlords making billions off our citizens. 
  2. There is a shortage of housing in our city – more people are choosing to live in Colorado Springs, so the demand for housing is going up and the supply is not keeping pace. After the 2008 housing crash, virtually no new units were built in Colorado Springs, setting the stage for our current shortage.
  3. Major corporate landlords, hedge funds, and other institutional investors are buying up our housing stock, squeezing tenants for profit by jacking up rents and neglecting repairs. In such a tight housing market, they know tenants have few other options, so they feel free to charge outrageous prices for substandard conditions.
Why isn’t our city government doing anything about our housing crisis?

The current conditions in the housing market benefit a few—developers, landlords, and wealthy homeowners in exclusive neighborhoods—at the expense of the many. And those few, represented by groups like the Colorado Home Builders Association, Apartment Association of South Colorado, etc. are by far the biggest spenders in local elections, participate in civic affairs at higher rates, and have unparalleled access to elected officials. In short, they have too much power.

To get our city government to pursue common sense solutions to our housing crisis, then, we need to build the power of the many, which we do through grassroots community organizing. Explore our site or contact us to learn more about what that means.

I am struggling with my housing – what resources are available to me?

Legal:

  1. The Community Economic Defense Project – legal aid for tenants facing eviction or dealing with habitability issues
  2. Colorado Legal Services – legal aid for tenants facing eviction – (719) 471-0380 – 102 S Tejon St, Suite 430
  3. Housing legal clinic each Tuesday and Thursday – 8:30 a.m.-Noon at El Paso County Courthouse, call 719-471-0380 for details.

Rental Assistance:

  1. Colorado Emergency Rental Assistance (only for tenants facing eviction) – easiest to access through CEDP’s page. Click “I need help with an eviction” – call the state office directly at 1-720-356-0174

Know Your Rights

  1. Legal packet on tenant rights from Colorado Legal Services

Finding Housing or Shelter:

  1. There is a patchwork of providers, all of whom may or may not be able to help at any given time – complete list here

Tenant Organizing:

  1. The Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership – organizing support for tenants who want to take action with their neighbors to enforce their rights and win changes to the way their building is managed – COS Tenants Resources
How can I get more involved with the COSPHP?

Are you:

  1. A tenant who wants to organize your neighbors or get involved in the growing citywide tenant movement? Contact us at here
  2. A currently or formerly unhoused resident of the city who wants to fight for better treatment from our city government? Come to a Homeless Union meeting, every Thursday at 3pm at Westside CARES (2808 W Colorado Ave)
  3. A resident of the Mill St neighborhood? Contact us here
  4. None of the above, but interested in getting involved in housing-justice organizing work? Get in touch to learn more about how you can be involved