Housekeys Action Network sues City of Denver over discrimination

Over the last several years, numerous disabled individuals have been discriminatorily denied access to, ejected from, and denied reasonable accommodations by various shelters and shelter-based services and transitional living spaces funded by the City of Denver, because of their disabilities. The shelters have failed to ensure that disabled houseless individuals are able to access life-saving shelter. Once the safety net these supports are supposed to provide is ripped away, wheelchair-users, amputees, and people with chronic medical and mental health conditions and other disabilities are left to sleep on the street, with serious and potentially deadly consequences.

Denver has failed to address these grave issues, despite the fact that disabled individuals, Housekeys Action Network – Denver (“HAND”), staff from related agencies and the shelters, and numerous members of the Denver community have repeatedly reported these practices to Denver officials. Denver’s failure to ensure that its contractors and grantees do not discriminate against disabled houseless individuals plainly violates Defendant Denver’s obligations under both federal and state law.

As a result, Housekeys Action Network Denver and several Individual Plaintiffs have filed the following law suit against the city: