DISABILITY ADVOCATES SUE DENVER for SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION & FAILURE TO PROVIDE ACCESSIBLE SHELTER & SERVICES TO DISABLED, HOUSELESS PEOPLE

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DENVER, CO – Disability Law United, Newman | McNulty, LLC, and Brooklyn Law School’s Disability & Civil Rights Clinic today filed suit against the City and County of Denver on behalf of Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) and disabled, houseless people who have been forced to sleep on the streets after being denied access to shelters and shelter-based services in violation of disability law.

Shelters and facilities under contract with and funded by Denver systemically fail to provide accessible services to disabled people. From shelters that are inaccessible to wheelchair users, to inadequately trained shelter staff who confiscated necessary medical supplies or prevented individuals with disabilities from utilizing existing resources earmarked for accessibility, the six named plaintiffs were left without shelter, experienced significant medical complications and emotional distress, and lost personal property with no recompense. As a result, HAND was forced to expend its valuable resources helping these individuals survive being cast into the streets with nowhere to shelter, at times paying for hotel rooms for houseless individuals in crisis.

Frequent reports were made to Denver officials about these discriminatory practices, but despite the alarms raised and Denver’s own acknowledgment that 42% of homeless individuals in the area report a disabling condition, Denver has failed to ensure their contractors and grantees do not discriminate against people with disabilities in violation of federal and state laws.

The plaintiffs’ stories demonstrate the illegal and inhumane actions of Denver through its contracted shelter providers. One plaintiff was hospitalized to treat infection and excruciating pain after shelter staff confiscated the medical scissors she needs to maintain her colostomy bag. After release from the hospital, shelter staff kicked her out because she was physically unable to bend over and clean around her sleeping area.

Her confiscated belongings were never returned, and she was forced to return to sleeping on the streets. Her colostomy bag froze to her body because of Denver’s actions.

Another plaintiff was forced to crawl upstairs at shelters without elevators or ramps for wheelchair users. On other occasions, he was turned away because – while beds were available – shelter staff had not set aside these accessible beds for people who need them. On multiple occasions, shelter staff moved his wheelchair away from him without any communication, leaving him immobile and without access to his only possessions.

Another plaintiff was ejected from a shelter after he was forced to urinate outside because the shelter’s bathrooms were not accessible him in his power wheelchair.

Unable to meet his basic needs in shelters, and punished for attempting to do so, he sleeps outside.

Still another plaintiff was refused an accommodation to be placed in an available bed near the communal bathroom and showers because she could not make long, frequent trips from her bed at the back of the shelter before she would soil herself. She observed other shelter residents with disabilities were similarly denied beds closer to the bathrooms.

HAND, a nonprofit organization established to address systemic issues and advocate for houseless individuals in Denver, was forced to redirect resources and staff to fill the gaps in service left as a result of the listed failures by the Denver-funded shelters, including providing financial support to disabled people who were ejected from or unable to access shelters and devoting staff time to linking disabled people to caseworkers. Preventing disabled houseless people from facing harm cost the organization’s efficacy at its core mission.

Denver has failed to address these grave issues, despite the fact that the individual plaintiffs, HAND, staff from related agencies and the shelters, and numerous members of the Denver community have repeatedly reported these practices to Denver officials.

This failure is a clear violation of federal and state law.

In October HAND, through its attorneys, offered to work with Denver to design a
process that would address these issues. That offer was rejected, necessitating this lawsuit.

HAND continues to divert staff and resources to disabled houseless individuals who find themselves without shelter and in crisis because of Denver shelters’ discrimination on the basis of disability. “Shelters continually treat people with disabilities as an extra burden they shouldn’t have to deal with and do not give accommodations for their disabilities,” said Terese Howard of HAND. “It is the shelter’s purpose to provide shelter for those in need, yet disabled houseless people who are particularly vulnerable are continually kicked to the streets in extreme weather and other dangers. This must be stopped.”

“While the Mayor raced to house 1,000 people for the cameras, he was ignoring the pleas of Denver’s disabled houseless residents who were repeatedly being forced out of shelters and onto the streets simply because of their disabilities,” said Andy McNulty. “Denver’s repeated refusal to provide our houseless and disabled neighbors with shelter because of their disabilities not only violates the law; it runs counter to basic human decency.”

“Access for those with disabilities cannot be an afterthought. It has to be an integral and planned part of every City program,” said DLU attorney Kate Thorstad, “and Denver must hold its contractors responsible for meeting the basic human needs of those in wheelchairs, and those with other disabilities who are houseless.”