Spanish Speaking Undocumented Aloft Residents Told to go to SOS while All Others Offered Hotels and Housing Vouchers!@#
Action Needed: Support Alberto and Julio TODAY
The closure of Aloft hotel has been an incredible testament to what is possible to connect residents to housing and temporary hotels instead of the streets or shelters!
However, the City has left out two people. Every resident except two Spanish speaking undocumented residents have been offered hotels and housing vouchers. To leave these two individuals out because they are undocumented and speak Spanish is blatant discrimination that the City should not want to participate in.
These men have been told to go to the Aurora SOS where there is no bathroom or running water in one’s shed, you have to walk a long distance to use shared porta-potties, the cots are extra thin, there is a time limit to stay there for 6 months, and it is all the way in Aurora, far away from their medical providers and resources. This site is not a viable or safe living space for these elderly and disabled men.
One of these men has high blood pressure, diabetes requiring refrigeration of insulin, is having mouth surgery scheduled for next week, had to postpone leg surgery due to lacking a safe sanitary respite environment, and is undergoing treatment because of a stroke and brain tumor.
Another is partly blind and has physical mobility issues with walking, standing, and using stairs.
These men need safe hotels/housing with bathrooms, running water, proper beds, and an accessible location. They need the same safe housing that every other Aloft resident was offered!
It is important to note that there were two other undocumented Aloft residents who were already moved to a hotel. The only difference between them and these undocumented Aloft residents is that they speak English while these two for the most part do not. If some can be moved to a hotel, why can’t these two men?
The State perpetuates this discrimination as they continue to exclude undocumented people from housing vouchers. We were, and maybe still are, hopeful that the State will change this practice and issue vouchers for these men, but as it stands the State is instead telling them “sorry you are less than human, you can’t get housing.”
The City is bridging Aloft residents in hotels for around 90 days while residents look for housing with their vouchers. Regardless of whether the State issues these two undocumented individuals housing vouchers or not, they need the same bridge hotel stay that every other Aloft resident has been given!
We as HAND have committed to working with these men together with service providers and the broader community to find appropriate housing. We need your support to find proper housing for the undocumented residents!! Please contact us with any housing leads and please donate to help them secure housing!
This will take some time… in the meantime we are demanding that the City bridge them in hotels for the same length of time as everyone else while we all work together to find housing for these men.
They have been left in the dark throughout this whole closure process. We have been the only ones giving them updates and information. They have been treated like less than human by staff due to their immigration status and not speaking English. It is time something is done to treat these men like the valuable, kind, good people they are and give them at least some of the support received by all the other Aloft residents.
Aloft is closing this Thursday (April 27th). We need your support before it closes and Alberto and Julio are pushed to unsafe living conditions without any housing support.
TAKE ACTION!
Donate Today to Support Housing for Alberto and Julio https://gofund.me/524d95c3
Email HOST to demand they bridge them in hotels the same as everyone else!
Sample Letter –
Email Director Laura Brudzynski Laura.Brudzynski@denvergov.org and Communications director Sabrina Allie Sabrina.Allie@denvergov.org
Dear Laura Brudzynski,
I am asking you, as director of the Office of Housing Stability (HOST), to give undocumented Spanish speaking Aloft residents the same temporary bridge hotel stay that every other Aloft resident has been offered. To leave these men out and tell them to go to a SOS site is simply unacceptable discrimination. These men deserve the same safe housing.
We know the community can come together to help them find long term housing, but more time is needed and safe bridge hotel stays are necessary.
As a concerned resident of Denver who does not consider the lives of these elderly, sick, disabled people expendable – undocumented Spanish speaking or not – I ask you to take action now to include these men in the hotels as they are supported in their search for housing.
Sincerely,