A Denver urban camping ban enacted in 2012 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment against the homeless and is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Friday. Denver County Judge Johnny C. Barajas cited a decision last year from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down a ban on camping in public places in Boise, Idaho, The […]
homelessness
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: The grinch is dreaming of warm beds for all this Christmas
All the flush folks in Denver love Christmas a lot, But this grinch contemplating the mean streets DOES NOT! It’s not that the lights on the mansions aren’t dope. In fact, they are brilliant and give us all hope. The candles aflicker, the parties all rocking Bring warmth that won’t fit in just any old […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Wilson: Denver’s homelessness policies reveal civic cruelty beneath shiny facade
It’s embarrassing, Denver. Our clean streets and microbreweries come at a price. Go to the right places in this town, and our civic dysfunction glares at you from beneath blankets and makeshift tents. What is the point of our progressive reputation when our “progress” leaves countless unhoused neighbors visibly stranded in our rising economic tide? […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns, Politics and Government
Carman: C’mon Denver voters, put down your leaf-blowers and finally imagine a great city
The election is over, and it’s abundantly clear that Denver voters are clueless. Traffic is their No. 1 problem, they say. Oh, how they hate to spend their mornings in traffic jams when they could be at the gym or sipping cold brew on the patio at Stella’s. And homelessness is so filthy, so disgusting. […]
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 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 inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: House Bill 1118 could help renters avoid eviction
One consequence of Colorado’s tight housing market is an escalating homelessness crisis. This affects all communities and is not something that can be ignored. Forced evictions — which displace families and often lead to homelessness — are an unfortunate symptom to a spreading community ill. Under current Colorado law, a landlord is only required to […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
A haircut, a wound check, a bath for the dog: One-stop Denver delivery of homeless services reveals the depth and breadth of urban transience
Rhondell Burton was trying to sign up for food assistance when the 3-month-old baby strapped to her chest began to squirm. Khamaj, dressed in a gray sweatsuit and tiny black hightops, was hungry. Burton, 22, found a table in the midst of a crowded Colorado Convention Center exhibit hall to change her son’s diaper and […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News
Aspen’s workers are hitting retirement age. And that’s made the resort town’s employee housing program a ticking time bomb.
ASPEN — A surge of retirees in the nation’s most venerable and innovative resort-community affordable housing program is threatening to overwhelm 43 years of careful curation. It’s a demographic time bomb ticking inside Colorado’s priciest real estate market. “I’m hearing from business owners all over the place — restaurants, law offices, financial offices: ‘We can’t hire […]
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 […]