Denver, CO. No Freezing Sweeps and Warming Center Bills Pass Committee!! Onward to full Council…

Yesterday, December 20th, City Council Committee passed the No Freezing Sweeps and Warming Center bills forward to the full Council!!! The full Council should be having a first vote on these bills January 2nd and then the final vote January 8th. We are soooo grateful for our bill sponsors – Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis, Jamie Torres, and Paul Kashmann!! And we are so grateful to Stacy Gilmore, and Serena Gonzalas-Gutierrez for supporting these bills at committee!! 

Thanks to all the amazing people who testified yesterday! Especially Raven, Chris and Audry who are living this madness right now! Special call out to Audry for testifying over the phone WHILE being swept by the City. (She was being swept on public property because the cops said the area was “closed” after an encampment “resolution” took place in the area the day before – but Audry was excluded from getting a hotel room through the “resolution” because they said she was out of the zone, and then the next day cops come back and say she is in the zone and sweep her to nowhere.) 

You can watch the hearing here  https://denver.granicus.com/player/clip/15837?view_id=180&redirect=true&h=426dd5103a27901940ea365b54825876 

These bills are a basic step in protecting the lives of people without housing in Denver. The No Freezing Sweeps Bill simply stops the City from forcing houseless people to move along with nowhere to go in the freezing cold and stops the City from taking people’s property and leaving them with nothing in the cold. And the Warming Center bill simply mandates the City open warming centers when it is under 32 degrees. These are critical steps to being a humane city.

Please email your council person between now and January 2nd to let them know you want a humane City that protects lives and limbs. Use this link to easily email your council representative https://secure.afsc.org/a/ask-city-council-save-lives 

Onwards…