By Tim Covi

With the Mayoral elections around the corner, we wanted to ask candidates for their opinions on an often under-discussed topic in municipal elections: homelessness. Over the past few years, Denver’s homeless population has sky rocketed, going from 3,954 people in 2007 to 6,656 in 2009, a 68 percent increase. Service providers estimate that it has continued to rise through 2010, something we won’t know clearly until the next Point in Time survey is released later this year.

While not completely solving the problem, Denver’s Road Home—the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness—has been instrumental in creating more housing opportunities and bringing much needed attention and resources to the homeless community. Mayor Hickenlooper was a pivotal part of garnering support and funding for the plan.

We asked every candidate two questions to see how they’ll approach the issue of homelessness. Twelve of the 14 candidates answered by press time. Additional responses might become available on our website at: www.denvervoice.org