The Colorado Sun has spent months investigating the effects of inflation on Colorado living, and lately it’s turned its focus to the impact on young people. Editor Lance Benzel joined KUNC’s Nikole Robnisn Carroll to unpack that.
The latest installment of The Sun’s High Cost Of Colorado series looks at the way young Coloradans are being squeezed by rising costs of living - in particular, housing costs.
“We talked to a Pueblo woman, Shaylan Wilson, who said that she and her boyfriend spend much of their monthly income on their $1,200 rent,”Benzel told KUNC. “That makes it hard to save for a long list of other living expenses - utilities, credit card payments, car insurance, health insurance, medical appointments, and so on. It has limited Shaylan’s opportunities to pursue higher education because she simply couldn't afford tuition.”
The couple pinches pennies and receives help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (commonly referred to as Food Stamps). Wilson's boyfriend's grandmother also sometimes helps them out. They’re not alone.
“A poll discussed in our story found that 40% of young people statewide pay rent they can't afford, which means that it takes up 30% or more of their income,” Benzel said. “In El Paso County, 52% of young renters pay unaffordable rent and the number is even higher in Boulder County - it's 60%.”
“(The price hikes) started with the (COVID-19) pandemic, which delivered a jolt to housing prices and left families struggling all over the state and country,” Benzel said. “People were moving to Colorado in high numbers during the pandemic. That was a phenomenon driven by work-from-home policies that freed up people to move.”
The expiration of pandemic-era eviction protections have not helped matters.
“Since 2020, rents have increased in Colorado as much as 30%,” Benzel told KUNC. “So there's a lot of young people here who feel stymied by the housing situation and may even be looking elsewhere. That has led to long term concerns about communities maintaining their vibrancy.”
