Info & criticism about the Acoma House, Denver, Colorado.

"White Swan Apartments" Denver, Colorado ↓

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This is a static website with no "cookies" or "push notifications", etc. Refresh page manually (using web browser button) for updated content. Last edited/updated Dec 03, 2025.

Also check out my relatable webpage presentation: missionrock.net: video evidence of ADA violation by apartment property management company.

The "Acoma House" ...err, I mean this is actually concerning the White Swan Apartments in same general area & also owned by same people. A recent news article describing them as a quote-unquote family owned business and implies that they're local but the associated LLCs have a California address. West Hollywood, CA, in fact.

Some articles and associated information:

• Denver apartment complex manager experiences 'apocalyptic situation' with state voucher tenants | November 28, 2025 CBS Colorado
• In the Golden Triangle, artists are painting rooms of a future hotel in The Acoma House by Maggie Donahue Oct. 22, 2021 denverite.com
• theacomahouse.com HOME | The Acoma House a Unique Lodging in Denver, CO.

Text of "apocalyptic situation" article...

Denver apartment complex manager experiences "apocalyptic situation" with state voucher tenants

By Chierstin Roth
November 28, 2025 / 6:59 PM MST / CBS Colorado

The people running a family-owned apartment complex in Congress Park/Capitol Hill are hoping to shed light on an issue impacting their business and their lives. They believe they aren't the only property owners facing this same story.

It was a shocking scene inside one of the Denver apartments: drug paraphernalia, feces, and garbage. Christina Eisenstein invited CBS News Colorado into the newly vacated unit.

Her mother-in-law owns the apartment complex called the White Swan, at 1300 Adams St. She took over managing the property back in September, and a few weeks later reached out to CBS Colorado for help.

"It's been an apocalyptic situation for my family," said Eisenstein.

She's highlighting what she calls a long and costly journey with tenants placed by the Community Economic Defense Project. The previous property management company allowed CEDP to place clients in five of the 18 units. Concerns of health and safety followed, which she says she presented to them.

"I would get emails from tenants describing the horrors that they have to endure as paying tenants, as taxpayers, as working citizens of Denver. I would hear about the horrors that they had to endure. I would bring these actual emails, emails from their email, not something I created, not something I invented in my head."

The CEDP helps renters who receive vouchers from the state. The voucher programs help people who can't afford housing due to circumstances, including homelessness, a disabling condition, and extremely low income. However, participants must meet certain requirements and follow lease rules.

Eisenstein says she expressed concerns to CEDP about several issues, including drug use, which violates the tenant's housing voucher contract: "The Economic Defense just blew it off and said, Oh, it's hearsay."

The CEDP is one of 44 organizations that administers voucher programs in Colorado. The state says it pays CEDP an average of $36,000 per month in administrative fees. CEDP is expected to act as a liaison between landlords or property management and households to assist with conflict resolution. They declined an interview but provided CBS Colorado with this statement:

"As a nonprofit administering public programs, we prioritize health and safety, but we need timely, verified information to assess any claims and take action. Over the past two months, Christina Eisenstein has refused to promptly and formally document her allegations, making it impossible for our team to respond to her concerns. Programs that serve vulnerable Coloradans only work when everyone engages in good faith."

However, Eisenstein says she sent many emails, phone calls, and even invited CEDP to the property to review surveillance video from cameras she had installed to document safety risks posed by their clients.

"I was hoping for a partnership, and what I've experienced from their emails is just a denial of what we're seeing," said Eisenstein.

We spoke with several tenants who asked to keep their identities concealed; all expressed concern for their safety living next to tenants placed by CEDP.

"We would have people knocking and jiggling our door handle over the summer, (it) was really bad," said one tenant. "It's been a lot of, like, noise issues and complaints. Definitely domestic violence, we've called the police on them a few times."

Eisenstein also shared documents with CBS Colorado showing multiple apartments with CEDP clients who tested positive for meth during a preliminary assessment after they moved out. The cost for testing and remediation, she says, is tens of thousands of dollars per unit.

"We have to take the building down to the studs, and then that just takes apartments off the market," said Eisenstein.

Out of the 5 units that had CEDP clients in them, two now remain. However, Eisenstein says one is under active eviction for suspected drug use, noise violations, and unauthorized guests.

When asked what she hopes to get out of sharing her story, she responded, "My dream for this is for more insight and more thoughtfulness to go into true programs to support the audience that it claims to support. I think that there needs to be a situation with true wrap-around services."

Simply consider that a person could want to increase the value and subsequent profit from a real estate property in a city like Denver, Colorado because there is an older, mid-century era, three-story apartment complex building there now. The surrounding area is historic residential and affluent. There are major city attractions such as the Botanical Gardens and City Park with its zoo and planetarium within a few miles of the property. There are small live music venue establishments on Colfax Ave just to the north.

So the owners take off the playbook of Zev Baumgarten of CBZ Property Management and rouse up public indignation about people on gov't assistance programs who must not appreciate what's done for them... or just handed to them (must be always the case) ... but it's prejudicial.

What is not emphasized is that there are people on the programs that suffered atrocious abuse and violent crime. In reality there is immense public pressure to not provide any kind of assistance to people who can be bullied and laughed at (or however else they can be accurately described) since any zoning changes in residential areas to accommodate facilities for single adults (group homes) are vehemently challenged too with immediate association to criminals with no evidence (needed) to support the allegations.

The property managers use media to shape public perception and reinforce bias to get people on their side of the issue. People identify with the people who are hard at work, trying to make a living, etc. when there's the people who are just freeloaders (type thing) and so any unsanitary conditions existing are associated with tenants. I found a listing for White Swan Apartments online and it may have not been entirely accurate, it did have it that there were "free laundry facilities", which would be surprising that it'd be free and would always be operational. Even if the machines were not free it'd be surprising if they all worked properly all the time. What the goal is of these businesses is to have an association with an idea of "what do people expect given their customer base". With the popularity of canine ownership, even by owners and managers having their pets on the premises while they're working ... & yes, I've had a dog bark at me while inside the leasing office of a complex when I was there to pay rent, but there are brand new buildings that have in their reviews that the interior passageways smell like urine & feces. The article mentions "feces on the floor" but doesn't specify whether or not it was obviously not human. It's not all that uncommon, is the point, even with tenants who are not on public assistance programs. There are separate deposits for pet owners for that very reason. The newer buildings will commonly have carpeting in the bedroom(s) but not in main living space which helps minimize damage. What irks the owners and managers is that they actually have to use the deposits they keep on repair instead of it going to their vacations & such.

The photograph below is from a different apartment building, but one that was two years old at the time. The building has a trash compactor and the air compressor unit that the machine had was stolen. The maintenance stored a dumpster sized pile of trash outside overnight as result. They did what they had to do, I get that ... but it wasn't a sanitary way of handling the issue since the trash pile was right outside the building by an egress door. There was also a medical services business in the multi-use commercial building. People would have their large dogs off leash outside of the building and that was acceptable. I thought it was cruel since I have physical disability, reconstructed ankle, and I can have balance issues when I walk. I don't need people's dogs running around me but people think it's just funny that I get upset. I've had dogs running around me inside of a building. The point of the media coverage was to disparage people on gov't assistance but in my personal experience there are plenty of people who are not on assistance who feel they should be able to get away with anything since they're not. The "getting away with anything" part oftentimes entails being mean to other tenants and the property managers will issue notices which go unheeded.

The article mentions "emails from tenants with horror stories..." but the misdirection is that is passed off as just part of their industry but there shouldn't be any at all if all the businesses would always abide by all the laws and regulations. They oftentimes don't though. The culture and society norms is that it's really only important that a property management business doesn't get caught violating the law ... but of course by the very nature of their business they never can be completely within law ... the place I live now has a charge of ~ $50 a month for "cams" and I don't really expect that they break even on that charge down to the penny. Try to challenge any of the managers or owners on something like that though. The reviews for White Swan Apartments aren't steller either. The issue I have with the remarks to the media and publicity is that it was intended to reinforce stigma and incite vigilantism but with deliberate misrepresentation of ownership since the person is wealthy enough to have another niche business that is specifically designed for affluent people. My point is that it's quite possible that other business doesn't profit like the owners wants it to and with the juxtaposition there's a conflict of interest.