How the urban camping ban has impacted Denver’s homeless community

By Robert Davis

Denver’s homeless community says little has improved for them after more than a decade of living under Denver’s urban camping ban, which broadly prohibits people from using tents or tarps to create shelter on public property.

Mayor Michael Hancock officially signed the camping ban ordinance into law on May 17, 2012, under the auspice of creating a “light touch” enforcement mechanism to encourage people experiencing homelessness to move into shelters and accept services rather than sleep on the street. However, city data coupled with the testimonies of homeless people around Denver show that the ordinance has done little to encourage shelter use and even less to foster an environment that is conducive to solving homelessness.

“Looking back at these past 10 years of camping ban enforcement data affirms what we know from the streets — this law is meant to harass and criminalize people for being visible and houseless,” said Terese Howard, founder of the nonprofit Housekeys Action Network Denver. “There is no ‘carrot at the end of the stick’ — it is just a stick for the city to treat houseless people in our community as criminals.”

A source of contention

Denver’s camping ban has been a source of contention between city leaders and its homeless service network since the law was passed. Hancock praised City Council for passing the bill, which he described at the time as “a bold and necessary step forward” toward maintaining the health and safety of Denver.

“This ordinance will allow us to continue our compassionate and comprehensive work to connect those in need with vital services and get them to self-sufficiency,” Hancock said in a statement to the Denver Business Journal. “It also allows us to maintain the workability and livability of our vibrant city.”

Data from the Denver Police Department shows the city has ardently enforced the urban camping ban since the bill’s passage as well. The agency has made more than 27,000 contacts with homeless people regarding unauthorized camping since June 2012. More than three-quarters of these contacts occurred over a four-year period between 2015 and 2019, the data shows.

The data also shows that Denver eased up on its enforcement during the pandemic. The city conducted 1,197 street checks for unauthorized camping, the lowest total DPD had accounted for since 2014, according to the data. For comparison, Denver performed more than 2,500 street checks in 2019 before the pandemic began.

Mayor Hancock has also redoubled his support for the ordinance. On several occasions, Hancock has said the city will continue to enforce the law as it seeks to expand indoor shelter and wrap-around services for its homeless.

“I want to be very clear: Unsanctioned encampments are not an option,” Hancock said during a press conference at a new shelter on 48th Ave. last summer.

But some of Denver’s service providers say the camping ban has made their job more difficult. Vinnie Cervantes, organizing director for the Denver Alliance for Street Health Response (DASHR), which performs medical services for people experiencing homelessness, told Denver Voice that the camping ban makes it “impossible” to stay connected with people who are homeless.

“The policy and its enforcement have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars to make the problem worse by enacting violence against vulnerable communities, compounding trauma, and creating more barriers to self-determination for folks who are unhoused,” Cervantes said. “Ten years later and the city has learned nothing from their harmful, violent approach to homelessness.”

“I have never in my life experienced the trauma that I’ve experienced in Denver.”

People experiencing homelessness in Denver have been telling their elected officials about the impacts of the urban camping ban since the bill was passed, but their stories have gone largely unheeded in City Hall.

Denver Homeless Out Loud, a nonprofit advocacy organization, first surveyed members of Denver’s homeless community about the ban in 2013. In the survey, more than 62 percent of respondents said that access to the city’s shelters had deteriorated after the camping ban was put in place. Another 60 percent said their quality of sleep had gotten worse as well.

The organization conducted a similar survey in August 2021 that showed these sentiments had remained largely unchanged. The survey found that just six of the 150 people surveyed ended up in housing after a homeless sweep. Another 54.5 percent of respondents said the sweeps prevent them from finding safe places to sleep.

“As we move forward a year after the settlement was made, we must listen to the experience and input of people directly affected by these policies in order to guide city practices and to live up to the agreed-upon intent,” the 2021 survey said.

During a public comment session before City Council’s regular meeting on May 9, more than 50 activists and people experiencing homelessness shared their testimony about how the urban camping ban has impacted them. Some shared stories about being displaced from family and friends. Others told stories about personal grief and loss, including one woman who spoke about having two miscarriages on Denver’s streets because of the stress of being homeless.

Despite the diversity of experience, a common theme among the stories was that the urban camping ban has made it harder for people to survive after they lose their homes. However, only one city council member — Candi CdeBaca of District 9 — listened to the testimony as the other 12 members left the council chambers after the public comment period stretched beyond the 5:30 p.m. deadline.

“I have been homeless for a while, and in multiple cities, but I have never in my life experienced the trauma that I’ve experienced in Denver,” Alex Hand told City Council before most councilmembers left. “We don’t’ have very many reliable shelters that give out information about how to get back on your feet.”

City leaders have consistently claimed that the camping ban is meant to help connect homeless people with services, a claim that can be supported by data from the Homeless Management Information System, a federal database that tracks individual contacts with local homeless services.

More than 32,000 people accessed homeless services last year, which represents a three percent increase from 2020, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative’s 2021 State of Homelessness report.

However, the camping ban seems to have done little to inspire people to seek shelter since the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness has grown exponentially since it was passed. The number of unsheltered homeless has grown from 671 in 2014 up to more than 1,561 in 2020, which was the last year that an unsheltered count was conducted for the PIT, according to federal data.

Some homeless people say that living under the camping ban has only served to put them in a state of constant hiding rather than seeking out services or shelter.

“What I and others are being put through is unconscionable and quite illegal,” Chris Padilla, who is experiencing homelessness because of medical issues, told City Council on May 9. “I have to continue living like an animal to find a good hiding spot so I don’t get killed out there.”

First step forward?

There’s an old Chinese proverb that is commonly attributed to Lao Tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Some members of Denver’s homeless community say the urban camping ban is preventing the city from taking the first step toward solving homelessness.

“We can’t have a camping ban and be a decent society,” Howard said. “Whether it is through the courts, or repealing the law, or any other means, the camping ban has to go.”

Lawmakers and advocates in Denver’s homeless community have tried to soften the camping ban on several occasions. For instance, former state Representative Jovan Melton introduced a bill in four consecutive legislative sessions between 2016 and 2019 known colloquially as the “Colorado Right to Rest Act.” It sought to codify basic human rights for homeless people such as the right to rest and to move freely in public spaces without discrimination. But the bill was defeated each time it was introduced.

The homeless community also sponsored an initiated ordinance in 2019 known as Initiative 300 that sought to codify the Homeless Bill of Rights in Denver. But the initiative was defeated by a lobbying group called Together Denver, which raised more than $2.4 million from businesses such as the Colorado Rockies, The National Association of Realtors, and Visit Denver—an arm of the city’s tourism office.

Howard said that the defeat of these initiatives has also prevented homeless people from having reasonable access to bathrooms, clean water, trash services, and other basic needs that the city affords its residents who can afford housing.

Denver opened new public restrooms at the intersection of Champa St. and the 16th St. Mall last year. And there are groups like Headwaters Protectors who provide trash services to homeless camps. However, Howard said these services are just the tip of the iceberg. Denver still needs to invest more in affordable housing and work to make housing a public infrastructure that’s attainable for all income levels, Howard said.

“After 10 years of the camping ban, all the promises that were made have not come true,” Howard said. “People are still not connected to services, and people are being criminalized and put in jail more so than housing. Let’s be real, it’s time to take a new approach.”

Denver VOICEMay 12, 2022