By Catherine Duarte

PEOPLE: Prioritizing the most vulnerable 

Part 1 of a series on the 2025 City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County Regional Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) and ways to create affordability through housing justice. 

Behind metrics showing a rising median income and new high-paying jobs, there is a stark portrait of income inequality in the Colorado Springs/El Paso County area as evidenced by housing cost burden, a jobs-housing mismatch, and rising homelessness rates. High rents and low wages for workers in the largest employment sectors can lead to prolonged instability and, for a growing number of people, homelessness. These structural conditions are not just solved through building more, but by addressing the wage gap, keeping rents reasonable, and building for those the market doesn’t serve. 

Housing cost burden 

Between 2018 and 2023, the real median income in Colorado Springs rose by nearly 12%. During this period, the poverty rate fell by three percentage points. In 2025, rents in the city decreased from all-time highs in 2021. The number of high-paying jobs rose. This should be an indication of regional prosperity! Why aren’t we celebrating?  

The HNA goes on to show a bifurcated economy and housing market leaving many behind. From 2018 to 2023, while household income grew for both renter and homeowner populations by over 10%, the share of all households considered cost-burdened also grew. This means that for the majority of income levels, housing is eating up more of our budgets. For those on the margins making less than half of the area median income—or $45,000 for a 2-person household—housing costs are unsustainable and leave no room for emergencies or unexpected expenses.  

Jobs  

So why don’t people just get better jobs? While the median income has risen, that upward movement comes from very few top earners in select job sectors – for example, defense tech, management, or natural resource extraction. However, the majority of jobs and most job growth are in sectors (healthcare, education, food and service) where the wages cannot cover the average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment, currently $1,655 (Colorado Springs submarket data from the 2026 Q1 Colorado Statewide Apartment Survey).   

In addition to entrenching income inequality for generations, this dynamic creates a mismatch between the demand for labor in our region and the homes affordable to workers at the wages paid by those jobs. For every eight jobs paying low wages in our region, there is only one housing unit that is affordable at those wages. This mismatch has doubled since 2018, when the low-wage job to affordable unit ratio was four to one. Where does this trajectory of rising housing costs and growth of low-wage jobs lead? 

Homelessness 

By measuring the number of low-income renters paying more than half of their income on housing, the HNA indicates that nearly 4,000 residents in our region are at high risk of becoming homeless. This means that while they are currently housed, they are one illness, one rent hike, one accident, one eviction away from homelessness.  

Across the country, multiple studies show that the biggest predictor of rising homelessness is rising rent. We are no exception, as homelessness continues to trend upwards in the Colorado Springs/El Paso County area no matter how we count it. Whether it’s a point-in-time count, a census of school aged children experiencing homelessness, or the number of food assistance applicants experiencing homelessness, the region is seeing steady patterns of growth, particularly among children, who make up a quarter of all people experiencing homelessness.  

A housing justice approach 

The widening income gap and the rising number of residents who have lost their homes or are at risk of losing their homes is just one reason we must approach this as a housing justice issue.  

Pope Leo XIV reminds us that our faith calls us “to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest.” This is why Catholic Charities of Central Colorado began its journey developing affordable housing with Hunt Family Housing, helping families living in shelters or their cars find hope and stability.  

But there is still so much work to do. As we are called to build and preserve housing for those on the economic margins, let us remember what else we must work toward.  Housing justice is a living wage so that you only need one job to keep a roof over your head. Housing justice is a safety net so that homelessness is not inevitable for so many people. Housing justice is directing resources for building and preserving housing for the most vulnerable.  

In Part 2, I’ll discuss the importance of place in housing justice and how displacement prevention must be an essential part of our housing plan. 

Catherine Duarte is the Sr Vice President of Housing Development at Catholic Charities of Central Colorado.