Several residents Monday told the Denver City Council that the city’s homeless encampments are becoming complexes, with one encampment even boasting “a machine shop.”
Residents Avant Ramsey, Mike Hormel and Brooke Ferguson all spoke out about the encampments. Avant says he lives near 12th and Downing. An encampment has been outside his residence for a month. “The camp has grown five-fold and so have the sanitation issues and drug use,” Ramsey said. “We have lost part of our sidewalks and street parking.”
Ramsey said the people living in the encampments don’t “share common obligations” of community living, such as cleanliness. “This has become a serious issue for those forced to host the encampments,” Ramsey said.
“If the city’s goal is to help integrate the homeless into housing and into society, then I think those living in the encampments need to become more accustomed to meeting common and shared obligations both formal and informal in our community,” Ramsey said.
Calling 3-1-1 not helpful
Mike Hormel lives near Broadway and 22nd. He feels like the encampments are closing in on his neighborhood and all he can do about it is dial 3-1-1.
Residents have been told not to dial 9-1-1 or the police non-emergency line about encampments. They are supposed to dial 3-1-1.
Hormel said 3-1-1 isn’t helpful. They cannot tell you if or when an encampment will be swept away by city crews, for example. “They don’t discuss schedules of actions being taken.”
Wolf said the encampments are getting bigger. Some feature open space areas with furniture. “The problem is growing, and at Champa and 22nd “there is a generator and some type of shop. On 21st between Curtis and Arapahoe what looks like some kind of machine shop to fix stolen bikes and other equipment.”
‘New levels of chaos’
“The sidewalk living situation in this neighborhood has reached new levels of chaos,” Hormel said, adding he owns residential and commercial property in the city. “We can no longer talk to police about taking action. As somebody mentioned earlier, the sweeps are becoming less frequent, and I think most of the City Council on this call are pretty happy about that fact.”
The homeless advocacy group Denver Homeless Out Loud maintains the sweeps have become more frequent in the days leading up to next month’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Hormel is concerned for the safety of his children. “My six-year-old daughter likes to ride her scooter on the sidewalk. My 10-year-old son kicks the soccer ball in the parking lot across the street.”
All Hormel sees is a homeless encampment problem that is getting worse every day. He said the city needs to be accountable for the problem. “Is there a scorecard as to how your managing performance in respect to this activity? I haven’t seen any reference to this type of data at any council meeting I’ve witnessed online or virtually.”
He wants the city to come up with a plan for ridding its sidewalks of encampments.
Encampments move around ‘like a migration’
Brooke Ferguson lives at 12th and Marion. She says encampments have been moving up her block toward her property “like a migration.” As one camp gets swept from one block, it reappears on the next block.
“I know this is a political topic at the moment and some people don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “But it seems there’s such a liberal approach to the encampments that if you just want to use drugs and not pay rent you are allowed to camp. I’ve cleaned up human feces outside my home three times in the past two weeks.”
Ferguson wants the encampments gone. “It’s not safe. It’s not lawful. They’re using drugs. They’re yelling at residents.”
This is original content from NewsBreak’s Creator Program. Join today to publish and share your own content.