Denver is on track to break its annual record for eviction cases — more than 16,000, if nothing changes, even as rent levels are falling.

The city is bucking national trends. Most other U.S. cities are seeing a drop in the number of eviction cases going to court, according to Juan Pablo Garnham with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.

But Denver, like Austin, Las Vegas and Phoenix, is trending in the opposite direction. These Western cities tend to have policies that are friendlier to landlords, he said.

Multiple studies show the devastating impact of evictions on childhood mental and physical health and brain development. Students’ school attendance rate plummets. And mothers face higher rates of depression, stress and poor health.

While the Eviction Lab has not studied Denver,

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