HOUSING PLAN FOR HOMELESS UNDER FIRE
Large complex could house up to 1,000 on 59 acres
Residents are taking to social media to denounce a 500- to 600-unit homeless housing project proposed for a piece of federal land, and city officials expect to meet this week with federal lawmakers in Washington to vent frustration with the plan.
A 500- to 600-unit homeless housing project proposed for a piece of federal land in Lakewood — in what would be the largest community of its kind in Colorado — is under increasing fire, with residents taking to social media to denounce it and city officials meeting this week with federal lawmakers in Washington to vent frustration with the plan.
The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless has laid out a twophase approach to housing up to 1,000 people on the 59-acre site next to the Federal Center that includes the use of temporary structures — trailers, geodesic dome shelters or large insulated tent structures — for the first few years before permanent structures are built.
The coalition submitted a financing and operations plan for the $120 million project to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on March 9. The agency will be evaluating the plan over the next several weeks before deciding whether to let it move forward.
Ronda Frazier, a 12-year Lakewood resident who lives just over a mile from the 6th Avenue and Union Boulevard site, said “the main concern is the size.” With five buildings four stories in height eventually anchoring the project, the heavy concentration of a single type of residential use on an isolated site in the city is bad planning, she said.
“If the goal is to assimilate these people into the community, this is a terrible way to do it,” she said.
This year, Frazier and some of her neighbors started a Lakewood Residents Unite page on Facebook page to take on the coalition’s proposal. It had more than 700 members as of this week. A Change.org petition that seeks to stop the project has also launched, gathering more than 2,100 signatures.
“I don’t think the community has any objection to helping the homeless — it’s just the size of it,” Frazier said. “We don’t want what is happening in downtown Denver to happen in a business district in Lakewood.”
In 2016, Denver police conducted sweeps of several blocks near the Samaritan House, clearing the sidewalks where many homeless people were living. The move spurred a lawsuit the
following year, in which advocates for the homeless claimed the city had violated the constitutional rights of homeless people by destroying their property and clearing camps without proper warning.
Frazier and her neighbors worry about the level of security that will be present at the Lakewood site for both those living there and those living nearby. And she questioned what measures the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless would have to screen prospective residents, especially with easy access to the site via the WLine and the Federal Center rail stop.
Mike Coughlin, the owner of 240 Union restaurant, said the community feels blindsided and left without a voice, given that Lakewood has little to no say over the disposition of federal land. He worries about the safety of his employees leaving the restaurant at night with cash.
“It’s too concentrated for our area,” Coughlin said. “I think part of it should be designated for low-income housing, but not the whole thing. I certainly don’t want a tent city in my backyard.”
Temporary structures or tent city?
Coalition spokeswoman Cathy Alderman said the term “tent city” is not accurate to describe the first phase of the project, in which about 250 people will be housed.
“They’re temporary structures, but they’re much more substantial and protective than what people think of when they hear ‘tent,’ ” she said.
Her organization, which has been providing shelter for individuals and families struggling to find a place to live for 30 years, follows policies and guidelines — such as vetting referrals from local human service agencies — to ensure that those living in one of its communities are not a danger to others.
“It’s not like they can just walk in and lie down on a bed,” she said. “It’s not going to be a free-for-all.”
Meshing the coalition’s mission to help the homeless with the concerns of nearby neighborhoods is “a delicate balance for us,” Alderman said. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless would like to build a project that is more integrated with the community as a whole rather than sequestering all homeless housing to one area.
But she said the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which gives homeless agencies the right of first refusal when surplus federal properties are sold, requires that an entire federal property be used for that purpose rather than being split up.
“We would prefer to do more integrated development, but unfortunately that’s not available to us,” Alderman said.
On the other hand, she said the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless cannot simply overlook an opportunity like the one that exists near the Federal Center to help people find a home in what has become a prohibitively high-priced residential market. She noted that the 2017 point-in-time survey found that there were 394 individuals and 244 families experiencing homelessness in Jefferson County.
“Isn’t it better to house people than to let them languish and die in the streets?” Alderman said. “This is our mission.”
A safe place
Not all Lakewood residents are resisting the coalition’s plans. Chelly Magers recently started the Lakewood Residents with Compassion Unite page on Facebook as part of an effort to counter the opposition movement.
While the page has fewer than 40 members, Magers said it’s an important way to highlight the fact that Jefferson County is not immune to the challenge of providing shelter for those who need it. She said those fighting the project are displaying a “lack of empathy” for those struggling to make it.
“The homeless are around us whether we like it or not,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if they had a safe place to go?”
In the meantime, city leaders are hoping they can find a solution that will lessen the potential impacts of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless’ plan. Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul, along with several other members of the City Council, met with U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner, as well as with U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, when they were in the nation’s capital for the National League of Cities conference this week.
Paul said that while there isn’t much that Colorado’s congressional delegation can do to change federal law at this point, he hopes Lakewood can work with the coalition to spread accommodations around the city in smaller chunks to provide “better integration” with the community at large.
“We are certainly willing and hopeful to work with the coalition to see if there are better options,” he said.