Gov. Jared Polis has ordered millions of Coloradans to stay at home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, but the thousands of people experiencing homelessness have few options. State and local agencies are searching for more temporary spaces for individuals experiencing homelessness, and the Springs Rescue Mission in El Paso County is pushing […]
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
Posted inCOVID, News
Homeless shelters and health officials scramble for a plan as coronavirus spreads in Colorado
The public health practices intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 appear relatively simple. Cover your cough, sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands frequently and distance yourself from others if you are displaying symptoms. But for individuals living in shelters or residing in public spaces, following those precautions may be challenging. “All the preventative […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
Denver voted to keep its camping ban. So what is Colorado actually doing to end homelessness?
The building is wrapped like a quilt, a lattice of lavender, blue and yellow paint. Horizontal windows cast sunlight down the corridors. And in the courtyard, natural light filters through the wooden slats of a pergola. The northwest Denver homeless shelter’s structure is “trauma-informed,” same as the staff. When a resident stumbles in life or […]
Posted inGrowth
Colorado is set to invest more in affordable housing than ever before. And it nearly spent even more.
Colorado’s set to make what could be the largest ongoing investments in affordable housing in the state’s history. And yet, some housing advocates will walk away a little disappointed about what might have been. Just days ago, a package of bills moving through the state legislature would have invested more than $600 million in affordable […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Homelessness isn’t a crime, it’s a sign of the times
The signs are everywhere. “No on 300.” In many Denver neighborhoods, they outnumber yard signs for city council candidates and mayoral hopefuls. In a state where voters are regularly bombarded with campaigns for numbered ballot measures, I’ll admit, 300 — as well as the sign’s insipid message, “We can do better” — meant nothing to […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
It’s the Year of the Renter at the Colorado statehouse, from rent control to less stringent eviction timelines
First it was the bed bugs that infested the couch and the roaches scuttling through the kitchen. But the worst was the day the boiler room exploded, sending residents of Kelsey Danna’s apartment complex screaming and running as a gas man shouted at them to get to safety. The Englewood complex didn’t have heat for […]
Posted inGrowth, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado spends $4.7 million a year helping homeless people rehab from drug and alcohol abuse at Fort Lyon. Is it worth the cost?
LAS ANIMAS — The farther the white van got from Denver, away from the sirens and honking horns and closer to desolate stretches of two-lane highway through corn fields and melon farms, the more panicked Linda Fitzgerald became. When the van pulled into Fort Lyon, a former Army fort and then tuberculosis sanitarium, she had […]