Homelessness is being managed, not remedied
Iresided in Platt Park, a neighborhood south of downtown, for 17 years in a garage unit on a lot with a separate house that contained four apartments. The landlord at the time refused for years, if not decades, to address staircase, door, hot water heater, heating, flooring, asbestos, plumbing, boiler, and electrical problems.
For a while, with the rising cost of housing in Colorado, it was better to endure these issues. However, it became necessary, and long overdue, for tenants to pursue legal action against this landlord. Within a matter of days, the property had been sold and was slated to be razed by the new owners. This left five humans desperately searching for housing that we could not afford.
Having little savings with no housing alternatives, I became unhoused.
I remain unhoused three years later.
I started utilizing the day shelter at Haven of Hope to shower, launder my clothes, and have a meal. During the nights I would rest on concrete or metal benches or the sidewalk. For a period of two months, I sheltered next to a bridge in a makeshift structure consisting of a few sheets of large plywood I obtained from a nearby industrial site.
Over time I began frequenting Saint Francis Homeless Day Shelter and calendaring my days around acquiring meals and new clothing from churches and donation centers respectively.
I have always refused to stay overnight in a homeless shelter. They are unsanitary and unhygienic (think Hepatitis A, B, and C). Homeless shelters, in general, invite disease and violence. I have slept in doorways and for a time rode RTD throughout the night. I was constantly sleep deprived.
I am currently a resident of the emergency homeless shelter Beloved Community Village, a tiny home village. The environment is hostile. Residents are verbally and physically abusive and have destroyed property. Stalking, racism, and drug use among residents and their guests occur 24 hours a day. The grounds are populated with canine defecation and sanitation is a problem. The staff of the Colorado Village Collaborative ignores my complaints.
To compound my challenges, housing advocacy groups such as Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Saint Francis, and a plethora of other groups have refused to assist me to find permanent housing. They state I am “high functioning” and “no risk.”
I attended undergraduate and graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder. I have a bank account (with five figures of savings), a resume, and no criminal record. I do not engage with drugs of any kind. I am not violent, and, fortunately, do not have a mental impairment.
Thus, the thinking is that I should be able to find housing on my own. But, I do not have a consistent income.
The average cost of housing in Denver is approximately $1,500 a month. Affordable, affordable housing does not exist.
The system is broken and no one will consider my application for assistance.
I discovered homeless assistance groups cater to people
with a mental illness or those who have a criminal record, and individuals who choose to engage in illicit behavior and activities which include the use, manufacturing, and distribution of methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and an inclination towards violence.
Upon my first day of being homeless, I began to network.
I met with, and continue to correspond with a number of public officials working on housing for cities, the state and the nation.
I consistently speak with Denver City Council members about my need for housing.
I have engaged Habitat for Humanity and Radian, a nonprofit architecture and urban design group advancing social equity by redefining how places are designed and built.
Two sides bear responsibility for the unhoused crisis.
On one side are public officials, housing agencies, and organizations. They must actively end homelessness by protecting and providing affordable housing.
On the other side are those who are unhoused. These individuals must decide to stop involving themselves in behavior that makes access to housing and jobs impossible.
Homelessness is a money-maker for Denver through federal aid and charitable donations. As such, homelessness is only being managed, not remedied.
The City and County of Denver’s auditor recently found that “Denver Economic Development & Opportunity is not ensuring affordable housing is preserved and involuntary displacement is prevented. In this finding, the audit team determined that Economic Development is not evaluating its affordable housing programs’ effectiveness, is not adequately enforcing affordable housing violations, is not effectively communicating with other agencies about compliance efforts, and has not created processes for preserving foreclosed affordable housing units. These deficiencies impede Economic Development’s ability to preserve its affordable housing inventory, to evaluate whether program goals are being met, and to successfully resolve and prevent compliance violations.”
In spite of my advances since becoming unhoused, I know supportive housing agencies will not assist me. I must do it on my own.