Denver Artists for Rent Control

Mission Statement

Denver Artists for Rent Control is an organization of citizens concerned for Denver’s independent art culture and its legacy of artistic beauty. We dedicate ourselves to responsible positive action for the preservation of a culture that precedes us, includes us, and will continue far beyond us.

The culture we represent is, and always has been, an important aspect of Denver’s character, community, and charisma. This is a culture that continues to thrive in every vibrant, self-supported way possible while RENT for everything is fast becoming undeniably out of reach.

We understand this is a humanitarian issue: Our efforts are on behalf of all people’s right to attainable space in which to live, work, create, express, and gather. We are at a crossroads as a community culture.

We honor our predecessors by showing up to do the work of making relevant art, but we feel the ground we stand on slipping away. And so here we are. Taking action. For Denver. For our bohemian legacy. For Independent Art. And for our fellow human beings.

“When worried individual concern becomes confident community action, an entire energy field can change.”            ~Roseanna Frechette, Founder

Logo art by David Reed. Original Sculpture “On the War Path” by Alexander Phimister Proctor, in Denver’s Civic Center Park (since 1922).

Founder’s Update Fall 2025

Activism is a work in progress that requires showing up, with integrity, for humanity. I believe we are living in a time that everyone is called to be an activist. There is much action to be taken to save what we hold dear, as in Health, Education, Environment, Housing Justice, Workers’ Rights, Art, Community, Culture and more. Now is the time to choose a focus and show up for change-making action. If we all do our part, much ground can be not only held, but gained. 

When I founded Denver Artists for Rent Control (DARCO) in May of 2016, it was to address the immediate crisis for attainable space in Denver, surrounding towns, and the state of Colorado. DARCO’s all-volunteer founding committee spent many months researching and sorting what has proven to be a complicated range of issues that includes, but is not limited to, a Colorado statute which bans municipalities from administering any kind of local control on residential rents. Other attainable space issues include gentrification, zoning choices, renters’ rights, homelessness, and the right to rest, all of which DARCO has been actively involved, alongside allied organizations. To quote our mission statement: We are a humanitarian organization, concerned with a legacy of arts and culture that is greatly at risk as rents escalate and space for everything from living and working to creating and gathering becomes out of reach.

Colorado’s 2025 congressional season was a quieter one re: Housing Justice, but the work continues. Our coalition has gained much strength in the near-decade since DARCO was founded. In that time we’ve taken action for many gains at Colorado State Capitol re: renter’s rights and housing justice, including: strengthening habitability law for health and safety; the passage of For-Cause Eviction law for renter protections; limits on fee charges including application fees, pet deposits, and late fees (to prevent fee gouging); and a repealed pro-developer Telluride Decision. TheTelluride Decision had (since becoming state law in 2001) banned affordable unit requirements in new developments. These requirements by local municipalities are now allowed due to the repeal in 2021.

The big aim of lifting our state’s ban on residential rent control (aka rent stabilization) of any kind, being set by municipalities, remains to be accomplished. We believe that day will come– when we untie the wrists of municipal policy makers, thereby allowing them to find local solutions for stabilizing rents within their communities.

Our state of Colorado is not alone. Housing justice is a global issue. The commodification of basic housing, has been openly called out as greed. When I say that, I am not addressing all rentals, and/or all property management companies, nor all real estate endeavors. Of course. We understand not all situations are the same and thereby this issue requires much community deliberation. And the right for community problem solving.

Can we allow municipal policy makers to set policies with their people, for their people?  It would seem so. Measures around the globe are being taken. Most recently, in 2025, the state of Washington’s Governor signed a bill that allows for rent stabilization in that state.  In 2019 Oregon became the first state to initiate statewide rent stabilization law. California has long implemented rent control across the state with some variations in cities. To name a few.

And so we continue to take action. And to welcome participation in our actions which are updated, each Congressional Season, on our public Facebook page: Denver Artists for Rent Control.

Please stay tuned~ for the love of humanity.

~Roseanna Frechette

Past Actions