Homeless die of exposure as Denver temperatures dip

In the past week, two men experiencing homelessness in Denver have died from what police say was likely exposure as temperatures dropped and snow blanketed the city.

With those deaths, a total of 16 people experiencing homelessness have died this year.

Denver Police Cmdr. Aaron Sanchez told The Denver Post one man was found dead early Monday morning near a bus stop at the south end of Brighton Boulevard. The second man was found the morning of Feb. 8 in the 2100 block of California

Street.

Autopsies are pending to confirm the manner of death in both cases, but Sanchez said the cause was likely exposure.

Temperatures dropped to 8 degrees Monday, National Weather Service data shows. On Feb. 8, temperatures in Denver dropped to a low of 13 degrees.

Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca and her staff say the deaths underscore the need not only to repeal Denver’s controversial urban camping ban but also to reframe the conversation about those living on the city’s streets.

“The responses that we hear from people calling and upset that they are camping outside is a judgment saying they’re choosing this lifestyle,” said Lisa Calderón, CdeBaca’s chief of staff. “I don’t know anyone who chooses to lose their fingers or toes from frostbite or anybody who chooses to die next to a trash can.”

Since Jan. 1, an additional 14 people experiencing homelessness have died in Denver, confirmed Tammy Vigil, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Public Health and Environment.

Causes of death remain unclear, however. Two of them died outside, and two were injured outside but died in a hospital, Vigil said. The rest “appeared to have sustained the injuries that killed them indoors and died indoors.”

The numbers appear to be in line with the city’s trend in the last two years. Last year, an estimated total of 108 people experiencing homelessness died, Vigil said. The year before, 114 died.

Most don’t die of exposure, Vigil said. Three of the 16 deaths this year were likely due to exposure or hypothermia, and nine of the 108 deaths last year were likely due to exposure, she said.

Already CdeBaca has said she will propose a repeal of Denver’s urban camping ban, the legality of which was thrust into question in December after a county judge dismissed a ticket issued to a homeless man for violating the ban. In that decision, the judge said the ban amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. City attorneys appealed the decision.

But she has yet to formally propose a repeal, saying more research is needed, and no other council members have come out in support of the measure. She needs a total of nine votes to overcome an inevitable veto promised by Mayor Michael Hancock.

But Sanchez said the deaths and the camping ban aren’t connected.

“When we hit these cold spells, we don’t enforce the camping ban, we just focus on outreach,” he said.

Despite the unlikely prospect of CdeBaca’s repeal passing, Calderón said the idea is more about having the conversation.

“She is pushing her colleagues toward a sense of urgency around this issue that they haven’t had as a collective body,” she said. “It is our district that is ground zero for this problem. Because other districts are not suffering the effects like we are, it has not been a priority.”