The Unrepentant Tenant
Boiling frogs
Editor’s note: Welcome to the first installment of The Unrepentant Tenant, a biweekly column diving into the history, mythology and impact of rent control...
What rent control could have looked like in Boulder
Since the beginning of this column in March, I’ve focused on rent control—then I pivoted, uncovering the broader history of tenant activism in Boulder....
Rent control: Why or why not?
My debut column two weeks ago went into an abbreviated history of rent control (RC) in Boulder and Colorado. Now it’s time to deal...
The fantasy of inflation increasing rents
It seems that locally and nationally, housing prices may have peaked, in that there are fewer bidding wars over units for sale, and houses/condos...
Unrepentant Tenant
The Unrepentant Tenant last outlined tenant activism in Boulder through the 1970s, with the Boulder County Tenant’s Organization (BCTO) based on the CU campus...
Do tenants have a right to a habitable home? Yes, but…
The most common problem for tenants by far is not getting their deposit back—but that subject will have to wait for another column.
Probably the...
Who knew? Rental deposits are strongly protected
Overall, Colorado doesn’t have a lot of tenant protections — it regularly ranks near the bottom when it comes to evictions, right to repairs...
The bigger picture of rent control
A recent letter to the editor about my column (see The unrepentant tenant, “Rent control: Why or why not?” March 24, 2022) raised some points...
The worst thing that can happen to a tenant
One of the worst housing crises — if not life crises — a tenant can face is eviction. The U.S. is in the throes...
Rent control rallies and 1980s tenant battles
The summer heat is not only breaking records (thank you, climate crisis) but also manifesting itself in the world of rent control and activism.
Two...
Resources for Boulder renters
'Tis the season for Boulder’s population to significantly increase, mostly with student renters. Given that migration, dance with me as I pivot from rent...
The downward mobility of owning a mobile home
A couple of weeks ago, a ground-breaking Colorado bill, HB 1287, passed out of committee, bringing forward an extension of badly needed protections for Colorado...
