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UNBELIEVABLE! City Plans Sweep of 300 People April 30 in the Midst of COVID-19 State of Emergency: Days after DHOL Places Toilets and Hand Washing Stations the City Moves to Sweep With No Housing Option Given. Denver, CO.

April 23, 2020 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Just when you thought Mayor Hancock couldn’t be any more cruel, HE UPS THE CRUELTY SCALE&!@#

Today, April 23rd 2020, the City posted notice of a mass sweep on April 30th of all the encampments from 20th to 23rd, from Welton to Curtis. On March 24th 2020 the Mayor’s office stated that “people or their property will not be displaced” during this state of emergency. We are still in a state of emergency. The CDC put out guidance that encampments should not be swept during this pandemic. Instead, cities should provide bathrooms and hand washing stations to every encampment. The City has refused to follow these CDC guidelines.

The City has done nothing to provide these basic hygiene needs for people living outside. We in Denver Homeless Out Loud together with Mutual Aid Denver took the initiative to provide a few (4) portable toilets and handwashing stations because the city has failed to do so. These toilets have been heavily used due to the great need. As part of the effort cleanings are being performed every day by a resident of the camp.

just one of the many blocks of encampments in these blocks
just one of the many blocks of encampments in these blocks

Currently there are 95 tents in the blocks slated to be swept next week. With 1-5 people in each tent this means at least 300 people will have nowhere to go.

It is well known that encampments are safer environments than shelters during this pandemic. Tents have individual space and fresh air. Even if a tent is shared with others, there is much less mass contamination than in a shelter where hundreds of others share the same closed air and surfaces. Furthermore, the new shelters at the National Western and the Coliseum are often maxed out, even if it was safe and preferred for the 300 people living at these encampments there would not be room in these facilities.

We recently surveyed 64 people who are homeless about what their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice of a place to stay would be. 87.3% said their 1st choice is a hotel room; 9.5% said tent camping; and 3.2% said emergency shelter. These answers are reflective of what housing wait list data and common sense show: People want housing. People are living outside at encampments because they cannot attain housing and they do not want to or can’t live in a mass shelter. As long as you exist, you have to be somewhere.

On April 1st 2020 we filed a “Mandamus” against the State of Colorado for not doing their job to protect the people of Colorado by not providing individual housing for people who are homeless currently on the streets or in shelters. The State and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment continue to delay action or response on this case, and tens of thousands of people who are homeless across the State are still living in mass shelters and on the streets. Countless service provider agencies have been pushing like crazy to get hotels to open their doors in this crisis, and to date in Denver there are only 758 hotel rooms available for homeless people. That is 758 rooms for a total of at least 5000 (in reality many more) homeless people. These rooms are currently prioritized for people who have tested for COVID, are over 65 years, or have other pre-existing health conditions.

If the City actually cared about the health and safety of the 300 people living at these encampments, they would place these homeless people in empty hotel rooms or vacant apartments, or they would call off the sweeps, tear down the fences on public strips (where many have chosen to camp in the past only to be fenced off), provide portable toilets and hand washing stations for every encampment of 10 people or more.

We are waiting, City of Denver… Will you open up 300 hotel rooms or apartments in the next week for these 300 Denver residents without homes to live “safer-at-home”???

Contact:
info@denverhomelessoutloud.org
720-940-5291

Filed Under: #right2rest, #StopTheSweeps, Civil & Human Rights, Denver Homeless Out Loud, Legal Defense, Organizing, WRAP Members

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Conceal, Criminalize, Capitalize WRAP Webinar http Conceal, Criminalize, Capitalize WRAP Webinar https://conta.cc/3LMtrBs

How government sanctioned tent cities promote the criminalization of homelessness under the guise of service.
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In this webinar, we will discuss the implications In this webinar, we will discuss the implications of these encampments as a “service,” namely how they will and are being used to sweep and warehouse unhoused people on the streets, and how they are part of a larger trend whereby local governments fabricate and formalize “service resistance” in order to continue the criminalization of homelessness under Martin v. Boise. 
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Onsite at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
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#stopthesweeps #stopthesweeps
#HousekeysNotHandcuffs #HousekeysNotHandcuffs
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13 May 1525157551809220609

It will take all of us working together, with our unhoused community members at the forefront, to bring about the changes we need for all to survive and thrive in this world. https://conta.cc/3MfNiZN

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13 May 1525156191038414848

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
https://www.denvervoice.org/archive/2022/5/12/how-the-urban-camping-ban-has-impacted-denvers-homeless-community

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10 May 1524087779713376256

When more people with experience of houslessness and criminalization stood up and kept speaking, City Council president Gilmore said there was no time to hear the people because the meeting had to go on.

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Denver, CO. Community Takes Over Council Chambers – City Council Walks Out Unwilling to Listen

Monday evening 10 houseless people spoke during the whole 30min public comment period demanding an end to the Camp...

wraphome.org

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10 May 1524080699724029952

On May 13, HAND is also hosting an event at The Savoy, where Howard says they’ll be looking back at the last decade through various speakers talking about the effects and history of the ban.
https://www.denvervoice.org/archive/2022/5/5/week-of-actions-ahead-from-denvers-housing-advocates

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10 May 1524079065170284549

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to sign off on a bill criminalizing camping by homeless people and others in parks and on other local via @MainNashville

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Homeless camping bill becomes law without Lee's signature

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has declined to sign off on a proposal criminalizing camping by homeless people and others...

www.mainstreet-nashville.com

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