Living on the Streets During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Photos by Giles Clasen

Over the past few weeks, Giles Clasen, who is a regular contributor to the Denver VOICE, has captured images of the streets of Downtown Denver (while practicing social distancing and protecting himself and those he photographed). These are comments from a few of those with whom he spoke. ■

Michael—

“Everything has changed for us. There is no access to bathrooms. There is no ability to get food anymore. Everything is closed. And it ain’t popular to say, but there is no access to narcotics. You try living on the streets sober. It ain’t popular, but it ain’t easy being on the street, and this is making it harder.” Credit: Giles Clasen

Joseph Mitchell—

“The CoronaVirus is messing with everything in my life. The little support available [to homeless individuals] is gone. No one is out, so there is no charity, no care. I can’t even raise enough money in a day to buy a hamburger from Wendy’s. Two different people told me about the checks from the government. But how can I get them? How? I don’t know anything about the payment. I don’t know how to get it or even how to start. I just feel very alone and am not sure what to do.” Credit: Giles Clasen

Spray—

“We don’t know anyone who has gotten sick, but this is hard. There are some bright spots. They are letting us set up tents and leaving us be. The cops are bothering us less and being nice when they check on us. We are trying to be cleaner and respectful. But for people on the bottom, people don’t understand how hard it is to survive this, how hard it is to get a job. People say we’re lazy, we need to just get a job. It isn’t as easy as getting a job. It is hard to get clean and presentable. It is hard to get to an interview on time. And this - well this is making everything harder. Forget getting a job - try getting food now.” Credit: Giles Clasen

National Western Complex Opens

By Paula Bard

Offering a safe, welcoming, and orderly refuge for the city’s most vulnerable during the coronavirus crisis, Denver opened the doors to the National Western Complex on Thursday, April 9. Operating 24/7, it is one of the newest shelters to open and houses 700 men experiencing homelessness. Almost immediately after opening, the shelter was operating at capacity.

The Stout Street Health Clinic was there to welcome guests when the Complex opened on April 9, checking their temperatures and health status of those arriving and separating out the obviously sick to be sheltered elsewhere. The city currently has 700 separate hotel beds for the elderly and most frail. Anyone testing positive for coronavirus has been quarantined.

The Denver Rescue Mission is providing its experienced staff to run the shelter. The public is not allowed inside, but the word on the street is that the food gets high marks; curfews required some adjustment for folks with jobs. However, they appreciate not being awakened at 4:30 a.m. as is common in some shelters, and they said prayers over the loudspeaker in the morning was bit jarring. But, as a large congregate facility, social distancing is not possible.

Denver has pulled something off that seemed unimaginable just two months ago when it was still dragging its feet in response to the explosive danger of this pandemic for the city’s homeless population. With “we can do better” still echoing off the misery of Denver’s streets, the National Western Complex shows what the city can accomplish.

The next step, which was outlined by homeless providers across the state in a letter to the Governor in late April:

It is critical that you take immediate action to provide support to address the needs of the people experiencing homelessness across Colorado. Their lives are not only at risk – the lives of all Coloradans are at risk if an outbreak hits this underserved and under-resourced population. We cannot allow our community members who can’t “stay at home” during this public health crisis to disproportionally bear the burden of the COVID-19 outbreak.”

They letter also asked for aggressive motel/hotel room acquisition as well as deployment of the National Guard across the state to assist with homeless care. On April 20, the City of Denver opened a 300-bed auxiliary shelter for women, which the city plans to run similarly to the shelter at the National Western Complex. ■

Sheltering in Place While Unhoused

By Paula Bard

According to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative’s Point in Time (PIT) report, there are more than 5,755 unhoused citizens in Denver. Of these, 700 men have been bussed out to the National Western Complex, 700 of the vulnerable and frail have been offered free hotel rooms, and between 1,500 and 2,000 individuals occupy Denver’s additional shelter beds.

This leaves Denver with possibly more than 2,000 unhoused individuals carving out an edgy existence on its streets. Meanwhile, the coronavirus stalks, and public health issues loom dangerously on the horizon.

In this dystopian cityscape, the remaining unhoused and economically disenfranchised citizens have just created a new city within our city, north of downtown. At the center of this pop-up city is Denver’s blue mobile public restroom equipped with a mere three stalls and a few hand-washing stations scattered throughout the area. None of these resources are sufficient for an at-risk population of 2,000 citizens. Stepping up to help, Denver Homeless Out Loud and Mutual Aid Denver will donate four additional portable toilets, along with hand-washing and trash stations in late April. ■

Local Features - May 2020