Absolutely No Shelter Available The Night After Warming Center Pilot Program Ends, Many Stranded

Absolutely No Shelter Available The Night After Warming Center Pilot Program Ends, Many Stranded: Confirmed by Mayor’s Office

On Friday, February 16th, the Mayor’s week-long pilot program for a warming center at the Coliseum ended. This had been a space that individuals and couples without children could access during freezing temperatures. The Mayor had promised to conduct this program after shooting down the Warming Center Bill proposal which would have guaranteed warming centers could be accessed in under 32 degree weather year-round. Despite the program only lasting 1 week, it did provide much needed refuge for hundreds of unhoused individuals. This was also uniquely one of the only places that couples were allowed to stay together and wouldn’t be separated. This was seen as essential, as many couples said they would not shelter despite the cold if they were to be separated, some citing safety concerns and prior instances of rape/sexual assault when they had split up to shelter. 

The very next day, Saturday the 17th, advocates showed up half an hour before the 9am time when the shelter was supposed to close. At that time, the temperature was below 15 degrees and snow was on the ground. Folks standing outside reported that they had been rudely awakened and hurried out by Bayaud staff as early as 7:30am, with some workers bragging that they wanted to go home and calling shelter residents ungrateful. Two to three large buses showed up to take individuals to St. Francis, a day shelter that closes in the late afternoon. After interviewing some of the guests, it became clear that many had no idea where they were going to go that night, some lacking proper survival gear to be able to make it outdoors.

That evening at around 7pm, between 10-15 individuals were freezing outside the Coliseum. Temperatures were still dangerously low, and many had shown up under the impression that it would be open once again. Individuals and even a migrant family with small children had been dropped off by Denver police, who also thought it was open. Thankfully the family was able to quickly move back indoors into hotel shelter. As for everyone else, advocates had to act fast as the temperature continued to drop to try and find somewhere safe for people to go. A representative from the Mayor’s office was called and pulled into contacting every single shelter to determine capacity. In every case, even with the influence of being from the Mayor’s office, not ONE shelter accepted these individuals!!! Locations that normally had overflow capacity claimed that they were either full, or that overflow was not activated for the night. One man who is a black disabled veteran and had been assigned a medical respite bed at Crossroads the week after arriving from the hospital in a wheelchair was told that he could not be found in the system and his bed had likely been reassigned days before – while the individual was staying at the Coliseum. Even a working shelter that required payment for folks to stay said that they could not help for the night. 

Finally, one man mentioned that the Wellpower Crisis Center mobile unit may be able to pick up individuals to be assessed and potentially have somewhere safe to stay for the night. Upon calling Wellpower’s Crisis Center, we found out that their mobile unit will ONLY show up to a specific housing address, not a public place – so what happens when someone suddenly finds themselves in crisis without a home after conflict with a partner or parent?!? This discriminatory practice led advocates to take folks directly to the Crisis Center to be evaluated. Once there, we found a young woman who was also in crisis and poorly dressed for the outdoors who had been dropped off by police earlier. She, along with around 8 others, were forced to wait outside (despite there being comfy and warm seating available immediately in the lobby) as Allied security assessed people and all their belongings one-by-one for weapons. One indigenous trans woman felt uncomfortable being there/ with the process and wanted to leave, choosing instead to find a hiding spot near a shelter on the streets with little to no protection. Ultimately, after about 45 minutes, nearly all the individuals were told there was no capacity and kicked back out, given bus tickets but nowhere to go. They did not even receive proper assessments, with one man being denied despite pressing for someone to talk to. While advocates continued to try and coordinate with the Mayor’s office, Crisis Center security eventually came outside to tell us that they were going to call the cops on us for sitting inside our cars in the parking lot.

Eventually the Mayor’s office reached out to Denver PD for P-cards, which would allow them to stay in a hotel for a few days. Police declined to help. Some individuals were so desperate they started to discuss which hospitals were open and would allow them to sleep in the lobby without having them arrested. In the end, HAND used funds to pay for 2 nights of shared hotel rooms. Advocates asked if the City would be able to reimburse the bill, given that they confirmed that absolutely no shelter in Denver was available otherwise. We were told not to count on it. It wasn’t until nearly 1am that advocates were able to leave and folks were settled into their hotel rooms.

This entire experience clearly illustrates many critical points which the community has been claiming for years:

• Denver does not, by any means, have sufficient shelter to justify sweeps under the Camping Ban, especially in freezing temperatures – as confirmed by Mayor’s office staff who couldn’t even use their own influence/connections to ensure safe shelter, let alone an individual or couple trying to stay indoors. Thus, camping outside becomes the only means of surviving, unless you have money, or attempt to occupy some other public property indoors, such as a hospital.
• Warming centers that are plentiful at different locations, accessible by couples, and open all-night are essential. The warming center pilot program, though it ended too early, was well-utilized and provided a unique and critical opportunity for couples to stay together. This should prove the need for further warming center access, something that would have been provided in legislation that Councilwoman Parody and Councilwoman Lewis attempted to pass recently.
• Crisis centers like Wellpower’s fail to recognize real crisis in the moment and rise to the occasion. In this case, they instead threatened further violence through arrest while unhoused and advocates were sitting in their cars in a parking lot.

HAND and Together Denver asked the Mayor’s office staff member to produce a memo describing this incident to confirm this reality as well. We hope that the City will recognize these fallacies in their system and work to ensure safe options for all moving forward.