Update from “The Denver Pay” Protest

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On Saturday we marched 16th St to make our voices heard – “Housing not Handcuffs! People Over Profit!” As the Mayor and the Downtown Denver Business Partnership celebrated spending $175 Mil on Looks and State Crooks, we called out the injustice of this continually pattern of investing in nice things for the rich, while houseless people suffer on our streets under constant harassment from police and security. We live in the new Jim Crow where houseless and poor people, especially if black or brown, are not even allowed to sit on public sidewalks much less have blankets or tents. As the City spends these millions of dollars on 16th street, there are currently over 300 families on a waiting list for emergency shelter. This is not OK.

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We chanted…
“Every time Johnston lies, houseless people die!”
“Families on the streets, Police making bank, tell me what is wrong here, can we make this right?”
“Mayor Johnston you can’t hide, houselessness is on the rise”
“Whose City? Our City! You can’t push us out no more”
And more…

We took this action days after releasing a report with the police data that shows a continual increase in enforcement of anti houseless laws under the supposedly “progressive” Mayor Johnston. (Read the report here). In this report it reveals a 133% increase in increment of laws targeting houseless people for surviving in public. For example, in Jan of 2022 there were 150 tickets, and then in Jan 2025 there were 350. It shows huge spikes in enforcement right at the time Mayor Johnston took office and right at the end of his “house 1000” campaign push. In particular, once Johnston finished “house 1000” he increased policing to make the appearance that he had “housed” all houseless people on the streets.

In reality, houseless people have been suffering more and more on the streets as enforcers do not let them set up a tent, or often even use a blanket. This level of enforcement is leaving our community suffering in hiding on the streets. On a tent we carried through the march we had a quote from a houseless person, “We were allowed comfort, tents, privacy…Now we can’t even have blankets.” (listen to 27 interviews with houseless people about enforcement on our instagram).

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Before we took this action on Saturday we wrote this letter to Mayor Johnston. Read it (here) to get more context on the situation.

We need housekeys not handcuffs. No more families on the streets. No more taking everything we have and leaving us on the streets forced into hiding with nothing.

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