• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
WRAP

WRAP

Western Regional Advocacy Project

  • Donate Now
  • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • 40 Years of Fighting
    • History
    • Mission
    • Strategy
    • Members
    • Board / Staff
  • Campaigns
    • Business Improvement Districts
    • House Keys Not Sweeps
    • Homeless Bill of Rights
    • Oregon Right To Rest
    • Without Housing
    • Street Outreach
  • Organizing Tools
    • Without Housing Organizing Toolkit
    • Homeless Bill of Rights Campaign Manual
    • WRAP Organizers Manual
    • WRAP Artwork
  • Resources
    • Art in Action Power Point Slide Show
    • Hobos to Street People
    • House Keys Book
    • Political Education
    • Legal Research
  • Media
    • Newsletters
    • Blog
    • Hobos to Street People Art Show
    • Street Newspapers
    • Sweeps Gallery Videos
    • Videos
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Sustainer
    • Volunteer
    • Support WRAP
    • WRAP Newsletters & Updates Sign Up

Denver, CO. Quality Inn Residents Demand Housing in Face of City Hotel Closure

August 27, 2022 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Last week, the residents of Quality Inn motel found a notice on their doors saying the hotel is closing on September 16th, 2022 and that all residents must be out by that date. This hotel has housed houseless people as a “protective action” hotel through federal funding since early COVID days. Protective action hotels are reserved for people at high-risk of COVID health effects due to severe health issues. Residents of these hotels were told this would be a pathway for connection to housing, but instead the hotel is closing and high-risk residents are being kicked to the streets and shelters with nowhere to go. 

Residents of Quality Inn are not going to stand for this. Many residents will be speaking to City Council on Monday August 29th at 5pm followed by a press conference outside City Hall at 5:30pm. There they will voice their demands for 1) housing and 2) effective case management, as they share their housing-seeking journeys of little to no income, little help, and endless barriers. 

We surveyed 39 residents on their plans post-hotel closure, and the findings were appalling:

  • Only 12.8% of respondents (n=5) had housing lined up, although 5.1% of these (n=2) stated the need for several weeks of shelter-stay until their housing becomes available.
  • The remaining 87.2% of respondents (n=34) have no housing options on the horizon,
    • Have no idea where to go (51.3%, n=20),
    • Will be forced outside in the streets (23.1%, n=9),
    • Forced to leave town (5.1%, n=2),
    • Were told by case managers that they’ll have a bed at a walk-in shelter supposedly “reserved” for them as though it were a housing connection (5.1%, n=2),
    • Or, in one case, have motel-stay for 1 week before being back out in this dangerous position (2.6%, n=1).

Residents were told that only the top 10 most at-risk individuals would move to Aloft, now called “Be Kind”, another protective action hotel slated to be closed later this December, leaving its residents in this same situation. Here’s one resident’s comments on his impending shelter stay:

Case manager said she’d reserve a bed for me in the shelter. Conversations are dim. They pack them 

in there. Last one I stayed at had mice and men were fighting over beds, [wall outlet] plug-ins, even in

the shower. I’ve been diagnosed with a heart aneurysm so shelters won’t work for me. Staying here I 

could take a shower and stay clean, I can’t do that at a shelter. I have plans, I want to upgrade my life.

As for case management, 35 residents commented on the kind of support they’ve received.

  • 60% of respondents (n=21) felt the case management they’d received was not helpful. Some reasons include:
    • “Case manager is reason we lost apartment”
    • “She told me it’s closing but didn’t offer plan”
    • “Case manager said going somewhere, hasn’t said where yet. Have to meet her, idk when meeting yet”
    • “I haven’t talked with her about any tangible solutions… been waiting 5 years for SSI and housing”
    • “Not doing anything, not passing info about shelter programs. Case manager needs to be proactive”
  • 25.7% of respondents (n=9) felt their case managers were trying, but limited by a lack of resources:
    • “[Doing] all she could”
    • “She’s working hard at it”
    • “We have a person looking for a place for us but because of our conditions we lost everything and made our credit bad… Cannot find a place that will take us”
  • 14.3% of respondents (n=5) found their case management to be helpful:
    • “Case manager helped with getting the voucher”
    • “Helping with all [applications]”
    • “Found housing through a case manager. First case manager left because he had a baby, the second case manager never showed up – scheduled and then canceled meetings – then [my current case manager] took over.”

This final comment describes a trend felt by many unhoused folks as a result of high turnover rates. HAND and many of the residents recognize that case managers are overworked and under-resourced. With that, the need for effective case management that acknowledges the intersectional barriers people face, along with real housing options, becomes evermore critical.

As for those barriers, 20 residents mentioned – unprompted – issues that impede their ability to attain housing:

  • 40% of respondents (n=8) are couples faced with having to choose between safety and their loved one:
    • “Looking for a place in the woods with my wife to pitch a tent. Somewhere hidden away where no-one can see us.”
    • “Putting on a list for a women’s shelter… and working on husband ID to go back to work he’s 61 years [old] on August 26th. Need more facilities for couples”
    • “Husband is very ill, and they not working to keep us together”
  • 35% of respondents (n=7) referenced their health issues:
    • “Disabled for 33 years”
    • “I am currently injured… I cannot get through another winter, and I cannot survive another bout of Covid: age/ health”
    • “[I plan on] living in a vehicle or on streets, in wheelchair”
    • “Buy a tent and air bed and search for a place… Huh, safe for deaf, I don’t think so… Wheelchair and deaf”
  • 20% of respondents (n=4) received housing vouchers but will still be left to the streets if they cannot find landlords to accept them. They are at risk of losing the vouchers if housing isn’t found within a short amount of time – a stark reality that contributes to vouchers’ problematic nature.
  • 15% of respondents have pets (n=3), once again causing them to choose between a beloved fur baby and shelter:
    • “Real difficult to get somewhere with a dog”
    • “Need more facilities for pets. Have a dog and cat – emotional [support] pets”
  • 10% of respondents (n=2) specifically called out the infractions on their rights and dignity:
    • “We (everyone in our position) are second rate citizens. Generally people don’t care what happens to us.”
    • “Better housing rights”
  • 1 person mentioned the lack of felon-friendly housing and the incredulous depth of their plight:
    • “The last time [I went to prison] was in 1999, so it’s hard for me to get housing. I want to live a decent and peaceful life, I’m not looking for trouble.”

The reality is that the City can, and must, ensure that all these quality residents of Quality Inn are moving from the hotel into appropriate housing – not the streets, shelters, or other unsafe living situations. 

Come to the City and County Building (1420 Bannock St) on Monday August 29th at 5pm in the City Council Chambers and 5:30pm on City Hall steps to hear the demands of Quality Inn residents directly. We Are Quality. 

###

Housekeys Action Network Denver

Towards rights, dignity, housing…

email info@housekeysactionnetwork.com 

phone 701-484-2634

Filed Under: #housekeysnothandcuffs, Colorado, Denver, Housekeys Action Network Denver, Mutal AID, Organizing, WRAP Allies, WRAP Members

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Footer

Instagram Feed

Register here tinyurl.com/Mumia-film for Thursday Register here tinyurl.com/Mumia-film for Thursday night’s online screening of this moving, informative, personal, important, and artfully-made film. Cast includes Cornel West, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory, Alice Walker, Ruben ‘Hurricane’ Carter, and Amy Goodman.
Forty years ago, the federal government slashed af Forty years ago, the federal government slashed affordable housing budgets of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), marking the beginning of the contemporary crisis of homelessness. https://conta.cc/3k4mDpA
Theatre of the POOR presents CRUSHING WHEELCHAIRS Theatre of the POOR presents CRUSHING WHEELCHAIRS 
Sunday 2/12/23 4pm San Francisco 2948 16th St.
Sunday 2/26/23 4pm Oakland 1540 Broadway 
For more information poormag@gmail.com
One of the questions we asked people we love about One of the questions we asked people we love about this continuing forty-year process of addressing the root causes of homelessness in America was recognizing that our comrade Paul has also been fighting this neoliberal bullshit for forty years. In earlier emails people spoke about the importance of WRAP. Here is what some of our friends had to say about Paul’s role over the last forty years. https://conta.cc/3vbUnUx
Next Thursday, the 22nd, at 11am we are having a p Next Thursday, the 22nd, at 11am we are having a press conference as the preliminary hearings begin and need all our allies to show up and call for justice! https://conta.cc/3FyNtgH
A lot of work done addressing oppressions across t A lot of work done addressing oppressions across the country takes place in courtrooms and legislative bodies. This work is not always successful due to the fact that the oppressors are the ones making the laws. But we know you can’t fight a system if you don’t know the ins and outs of how that system works.  https://conta.cc/3VQrVDl
Join the next Public Works Committee Meeting to re Join the next Public Works Committee Meeting to reject the “safe work zone” ordinance that aims to further criminalize unhoused people and their advocates during sweeps.
Monday, 12/12 at 10:30am
bit.ly/oakmtg-1212
Let's Celebrate Chucho Let's Celebrate Chucho
We are raising $40,000 for WRAP’s vital work at We are raising $40,000 for WRAP’s vital work at this 40-year mark, and all donations will be matched up to $20,000 in November and December! Contribute $40, $400, $4,000 to help make sure that mass homelessness is not around another 40 years. https://conta.cc/3VAWHQ8
1936 1936
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Facebook Icon

Facebook Feed

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Link thumbnail

Republican plan would outlaw homeless camps near California schools or parks

www.ijpr.org

Sacramento, Elk Grove and Los Angeles passed similar encampment bans last year, despite opposition from advocates who say they harm unhoused...
11 hours ago
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Twitter Icon

Twitter Feed

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

YouTube icon

Youtube Code

Our Channel

Copyright © 2023 Western Regional Advocacy Project WRAP · Log in