Criticized sweeps and safe spaces

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Just as city officials heard on Wednesday morning that most of the people living on the streets of Denvers don’t get very far after a sweep, some residents of the Park Hill neighborhood have sued the city for another of its tactics – safe outdoor spaces.

Representatives from Denver Homeless Out Loud, a local nonprofit that advocates for the homeless, presented a survey of 150 homeless people to the City’s Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee. -shelter.

Respondents who were interviewed between April and August 2020 said that when the city eliminated illegal settlements, most people ended up in the same block.

Denver Homeless Out Loud spokeswoman Terese Howard said people told the organization that sweeps – called large-scale cleanups by city officials – fail to connect people to the housing they also searched and led to lost or confiscated property, ultimately pushing the homeless even further away.

They are counterproductive, they are harmful. Howard told the committee.

Safe outdoor spaces have been an alternative to sweeps and emerged during the pandemic. Mayor Michael Hancocks’ administration has said they would like to add more than the two that are in Denver.

But Wednesday’s lawsuit alleges that the Denver Zoning Administrator allowed safe outdoor spaces without public notice, public hearings or involvement of the appointed Denver City Council or Zoning Board, according to a press release from attorney Dan. Burrows, which represents the local nonprofit called Denver deserves better.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Denver District Court and names the city and its zoning board as defendants, asks the judge to overturn the city’s decision allowing the camps.

A representative from the Denver City Lawyers Office declined to comment on the ongoing trial.

A closer look at the investigation, recommendations

Safe outdoor spaces were one of the options Howard suggested to the city instead of sweeps, which local and national health and homelessness experts say are expensive and ineffective. But Hancock has backed the controversial practice and increased the number of scans in recent months after vaccinations became more prevalent – coinciding with the weeks leading up to the MLB All-Star Game.

Of the 150 people who answered the survey questions, the results show:

89.3% had undergone a sweep or had lost their property to municipal authorities during one. 29.3% said they had been warned of a sweep. 54.5% never found legal housing after a sweep. 70.4% returned to the place from which they had been taken. 3.7% were able to recover their belongings which had been stored after a sweep.

The most effective option for those who live on the streets would be for city officials to stop sweeps altogether, Howard said. She recommended alternatives to better help homeless people and move them to permanent housing: stopping sweeps in inclement weather, preventing police from blocking sweeps with tape or fences, and using clearer language. in search notices to indicate that campers will be forced to move and their property could be confiscated or thrown away.

But the council does not have the power to adopt most, or all, of the recommendations, Councilor Robin Kniech said at the meeting. Instead, the Hancocks administration is the only body that can adopt them, not the council, and she noted that several recommendations appeared to be fundamentally in conflict with mayors’ strategies and unlikely to happen.

City Councilor Amanda Sawyer asked why so many people on the streets seem to refuse the services offered by city authorities during sweeps. Ana Cornelius, also from Denver Homeless Out Loud, responded that because the services are not holistic.

On the rare occasions, she said, accommodation is offered, it’s temporary and only comes at the cost of leaving a dog, losing contact with caregivers or leaving tents and other things. necessary goods.

Do I have to give up my caregiver to have a roof over my head for three days? asked Cornelius. And then they’re out on the street with no survival gear and then we’ve got a bigger problem in the back.

Hancock spokesman Mike Strott said city officials remained focused on connecting people in the settlements with services, shelters and housing.

Unauthorized settlements pose a risk to the health and safety of those who live there and those who live around them, Strott said. The mayor has made it clear that they cannot persist as long as better alternatives remain available.

Strott agreed with Kneich on the recommendations which run counter to the city’s policy on encampments – meaning they will not be taken into account – while others will be discussed with the city in charge of sweeps.

Kniech and City Councilor Amanda Sandoval are committed to continuing to listen and help move the conversation forward.

We’ve been stuck for a long time, Kniech said.

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