Denver, Colorado Raises $50,000 for Landlord Guarantee

The mayor of Denver, Colo., seeking to help tenants during a period of low 2% vacancy rates and rising rents, has raised over $50,000 to pay landlords who take subsidized tenants into their apartments.

The priority is to get homeless families safely housed.

Under the program, landlords are insured for $1,600 of property damages, and the program pays a substantial portion of the rent.

According to the Denver Post, "navy veteran John Claybaugh said he spent nearly five years sleeping in cars, under bridges, in abandoned buildings, in hotels, churches, in shelters, in jails and, when they would take him in, with relatives."

According to the Post, "a rental voucher helped him break the cycle, and he just landed a job as a dishwasher, something he doesn't think he could have done if he were still homeless."