Due To Housing Crisis, Many Colorado Kids Need Foster Care

If there’s one thing that has been clear about Colorado over the past decade, it’s been the growing concern over the price of housing.

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In fact, the transaction costs of houses in Colorado between 2000 and 2024 increased 329%, from $166,600 to $621,800.

When comparing a similar range of time between 1980 and 2000, where housing costs increased 160%, from 64,100 to 166,600. 

Plus, the amount of renters getting evicted has increased a lot, and places like Denver are expected to break records that were set just last year. 

It should come as no surprise that Axios found that housing costs are the biggest worry for Coloradans, with 89% of residents saying it’s an extremely or very serious problem.

With that being said, Kristin Jones over at The Colorado Sun found a truly devastating side effect of this trend.

Colorado Housing Shortage Forcing Some Kids Into Foster Care

There’s a few reasons why children are sent to foster care in Colorado. 

The reasons many people would expect are there. The biggest reason for child removal between 2021-2023 has been the parent’s substance abuse, making up 45% of cases.

The second most common reason is due to just general neglect of the child, making up 38% of cases.

However, the third most common reason has been getting more common in this timeframe, and that’s children who are experiencing either inadequate housing or homelessness.

Unfortunately, these children make up 13% of total cases in Colorado, which is above the national average of 11%.

In general, 90% of children sent to foster care in Colorado are from families experiencing poverty. In cases where housing is the main concern, parents frequently are not reunited with their children.

In pretty much all of these cases, the reason why these parents can’t hold on to their children is them not being able to afford housing as low-cost rentals are harder to come by these days.

However, if children were to be sent back to their parents, it would most likely happen if the parents are assisted one way or another. 

In fact, Jones cites in her article that Ruth White, the director of Center for Housing and Child Welfare, says many human service agencies have the ability to provide things like rent assistance to parents, but don’t do it.

In the short term, this could be extremely beneficial to reuniting parents with their children, but the goal overall, which many Coloradans are hoping for, would be lowering housing costs.