Advocacy Group Calls on Denver Mayor to End Sweeps during Pandemic
Story By Robert Davis
Photo by Giles Clasen
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Members of All In Denver, an equity-based advocacy group, sent Denver Mayor Michael Hancock a letter on Thursday asking him to stop sweeping homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The reputation of our treasured city can be either spoiled by, or celebrated, based on how we treat our most vulnerable community members,” the letter reads. “We can be considered one of the greatest places to live – world class, even, as defined by you and many others.”
“But we ask you: how is Denver a “world class” city, when so many suffer needlessly, due to the doubling-down of your policy of sweeping the un-housed from where they rest, and offering no safe alternatives or the dignity of choice?” it continues.
The letter was released as city officials cleaned an encampment at 16th Avenue and Pearl Street, displacing around 30 people experiencing homelessness.
On Wednesday, the City cleaned an encampment at 4th Ave. and Kalamath St., displacing another 20 to 30 of the City’s unhoused. That same day, Denver officials joined their state counterparts in federal court to defend the sweeps for the third time in a calendar year.
In December 2019, now-retired Judge Jonny Barajas ruled Denver’s camping ban violates the Eighth Amendment rights of the City’s unhoused because the shelter system doesn’t have enough beds to support its homeless.
A report by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure backed up Judge Barajas’ assertion by concluding the COVID-19 pandemic caused Denver to lose 56 percent of its bed capacity to implement social distancing.
Federal Appeals Judge J. Eric Elliff overruled Barajas in September, setting off a showdown between housing rights advocates and the City.
Things got even more complicated when the Center for Disease Control published a rule in the Federal Register prohibiting evictions until December 26. Governor Jared Polis extended the State’s moratorium until the end of the year.
To alleviate the damage caused by the sweeps, All In Denver suggests the City do three things: First, stop sweeping homeless encampments. Second, publish an audit of the costs of the sweeps compared to the costs of supportive housing, and three, reallocate funds from city sales tax revenue to support more temporary outdoor safe spaces (SOS).
Denver opened two SOS sites in December, one at the Capitol Hill Baptist Church and another at Colorado Community Church. The sites can serve a total of 80 people.
“Denver has trusted you with three terms of mayoral leadership, and this year, as our Mayor, you have asked Denverites to do better in the ways in which we protect ourselves and each other from a pandemic that has overwhelmed our nation. Now, we’re asking the same from your administration – better vision, more solutions, deeper empathy, and broader transparency about the costs associated with the homeless sweeps, and the impacts on our city’s most vulnerable citizens,” the letter reads.