DHOL Challenges Denver Homeless Sweeps in New Lawsuit
By Robert Davis
Advocacy group Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL) announced it filed a class-action lawsuit in the Colorado District Court asserting that Denver continuously and repeatedly violates the Fourth Amendment rights of people experiencing homelessness by sweeping homeless camps and the methods used to sweep the camps violate the settlement agreement struck in Lyall v. Denver.
Lawyer Andy McNulty of the civil rights law firm Killmer, Lane & Newman is representing the plaintiffs. The lawsuit names Governor Jared Polis, Mayor Michael Hancock, several administration officials, and both local and state police officers as defendants.
“The City cannot continue to blatantly violate the rights of people without housing and furthermore, violate the settlement agreement they made with the homeless community to give proper notice prior to sweeps and to store property instead of trashing it. The City cannot continue to ignore CDC guidance to not sweep and to instead provide sanitation resources where people live in encampments,” DHOL said in a statement.
Two requirements of the Lyall agreement that plaintiffs allege Denver violates most often are providing homeless communities with notice seven days before a sweep and storing any sequestered property for at least 60 days thereafter.
The lawsuit describes two sweeps to illustrate the claim. During the recent sweep of the Lincoln Park camp, able-bodied residents were able to escape with an armful of their stuff, if they were lucky, and the City wasted little time disposing of the rest into garbage trucks it rented. Not a week later, the camp outside Morey Middle School met a similar fate.
In both cases, the lawsuit argues, Denver performed the sweeps arbitrarily, and for political purposes.
“Sweeps do nothing to ensure that homeless individuals obtain stable housing, or obtain any services that the government claims that they need, but only seek to push them into dangerous shelters or less visible parts of the city. In other words, the point is to push homeless individuals out of the public eye,” the lawsuit reads.
The City Attorney’s Office issued a statement shortly after the announcement was made which stated:
“While the City has not yet seen the lawsuit, the City disagrees that it has violated the terms of the settlement agreement. The City works very hard to connect people experiencing homelessness with services, but cannot allow unsafe and unsanitary conditions to continue as it puts everyone at risk, including those who are experiencing homelessness.”
Killmer, Lane & Newman is involved in several cases of both local interests including Israel v. Denver Police Department, et al., Elijah McClain v. City of Aurora et al., and Carranza v. Reams.
McNulty recently litigated a similar suit challenging Denver’s camping ban in 2019. Judge Johnny Barajas ruled the practice violated the Eighth Amendment because Denver did not have enough shelter beds to serve its homeless. Denver District Court Judge Eric Elliff overturned the decision in September. The activist who filed the lawsuit—Jerry Burton—will appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Members of DHOL were part of a coalition of housing activists that tried to hold an impromptu meet with Mayor Hancock in June to discuss ways the city could better support its homeless. However, as the calendar turned, no meeting was ever held.
“Our City refuses to listen to the cries of the people to stop this inhumane insanity, so we have no choice but to take this cry to the courts,” DHOL said.