COLORADO SPRINGS — As we move into the next phase of life with the safer-at-home order we want you to know News 5 is here to help you every step of the way as we all work to rebound from this pandemic.
We're all in this together and looking for new ways to get life back on track, and since rent is due Friday we wanted to look into options for people who are struggling to make ends meet.
Just like April, if you're struggling to pay rent for May, talk to your landlord as soon as possible about options. The Colorado Apartment Association says many are offering payment plans, extensions, or allowing people to pay half their rent. Of course, if you can, use stimulus checks and unemployment funds to pay for this coming month. All of these resources - something renters really need right now.
Michelle Lyng with The Colorado Apartment Association, said, "I think there is great concern about May just as there was in April."
According to CAA, April brought a slight uptick in the number of people unable to pay rent.
"In April, approximately 1.8% additional people did not pay their rent. In Colorado that translates to over 90% of people who did pay their rent."
While she says it speaks well to the strength of Colorado's economy will it be the same for May? According to Lyng it's hard to project.
She said, "There have been some workers who actually are doing better than they were employed under unemployment."
However, her guess is that we will see more people struggling to pay rent.
She said, "Now we've gone two months without a paycheck potentially. There are some who have not been able to get their stimulus funds plus their unemployment due to a variety of factors."
Thankfully for Jesus Rivera Cruz, he did receive his stimulus check.
He said, "The stimulus check definitely did help a lot."
With the start date of his new job being postponed he hasn't been able to work in over a month and his wife is furloughed.
"We paid up our rent until July, paid up our bills...what we're hoping is that that was enough to kind of get us through the crisis basically."
Besides talking to your landlord there are state and federal programs that can help.
CLICK HEREfor information on assistance from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.
CLICK HEREfor information on Renter Resources.
