Aurora wants to hear from residents if their rental homes are possibly in violation of the Colorado city's housing code

A small apartment on the west side of Aurora has been home sweet home in Colorado for Lorenzo Hammons for more than 15 years.

"You make it what you want it to be, you know?" he said.

What he wants it to be is functional and secure. However, he's gone months -- if not years -- he says, with broken appliances, defective door locks and a lack of simple things to feel safe.

"We have lights outside both doors," he said of his 8-unit complex, "and they've been out for two years." 

Hammons said it has everything to do with a careless property manager who either ignores the 87-year-old's repeated requests for help or no one shows up.

"I'm older now. I can't climb ladder to fix the fan. I can't dig in the stove to change the light bulb, so I call them," Hammons said. "I can't get them to come."

With a folder filled with his hand-written log of concerns, Hammons hailed a cab last July to visit the local Housing and Urban Development Office. Using his walker, he slowly made it to the elevator to travel to the 24th floor, he explained, but the receptionist told him his 22 pages of notes were not enough for them to take action.

"You might as well talk to a wall," said Hammons.

When asked if he had reached out to the city, he replied, "Don't know how."

"If you call us, we're going to go out there and ensure you're in a safe place to live," said Joshua King, a manager with the City of Aurora's Housing and Community Services Department.

Part of King's job, he explained, is overseeing code enforcement. That includes the inspections of apartment complex units around Aurora.

 "We have a systematic housing inspection which we do on a one-to-five-year basis, where we go into every single unit ... and look for minimal life safety issues to ensure the compliance," he said.

Already this year, the city said 2,958 units have been inspected so far. That compares to 9,300 the year before and 8,181 in 2023. King added his code enforcement officers also respond to single-family housing rentals on a complaint basis, keeping track of all properties that are in violation of the city's housing code and issuing re-inspection fines based on how many times officers respond.

"After the fourth re-inspection, if the property is still not in compliance, we'll issue a summons for the municipal court," explained King. 

But what the city's housing department doesn't deal with are complaints about rude landlords -- like some of the issues Hammons said he is experiencing.

"When someone says, 'My landlord is being mean, they're not giving back my refund or deposit,' that unfortunately is a civil issue that I believe can be addressed by the state and/or hiring their own attorney to take legal action at that point," he said. "The city does not get involved in those civil issues."

Having seen what happened at other apartments involving what Aurora's mayor deemed "slum lords," Hammons fears his complex is on the same path to being an unsafe, uninhabitable home.

"This property is headed that way," he said.

"You think so?" asked Werthmann.

"I know so. I live here," Hammons replied.

And he believes there needs to be better accountability of landlords and property managers in Aurora.

"He needs to get fired," said Hammons of his property manager.

To report a code violation in Aurora, call "Access Aurora" at 303.739.7000 or make a report online.