Nationwide, there were an estimated 567,715 homeless individuals in the US, but it can be very hard to calculate homelessness. The direct definition for homelessness varies by measurement from only those who are living completely unsheltered (i.e. in parks, in streets or tents) to including those living in temporary shelters, to including people who are in imminent danger of homelessness.
Homelessness in the US and specifically in Colorado has been increasingly criminalized. According to Benjamin Dunning, an organizer with Denver Homeless Out Loud, an advocacy organization for those who suffer from homelessness, “as the visibility of mass homelessness increases and the places where homeless have been gathering are getting gentrified, there has been an increase in the laws that criminalize folks who are visibly homeless.”
He says that these include things like park curfews, sit and lay laws, and camping bans, which make things that people suffering from homelessness need to do illegal, effectively criminalizing living on the streets, even when there are few other options.
“All they’re trying to do is hide it,” says Dunning.
Indeed, the phrase “affordable housing” in Denver is, for some, an oxymoron. Today the average home price in Denver is $409,900, and many historically affordable neighborhoods and areas are undergoing rapid gentrification, leaving many poverty-stricken individuals homeless.
According to Dunning, the major causes of homelessness nationwide are low wages and lack of affordable housing. Homelessness has been a problem since the industrial revolution, when low wages and poor treatment by employers gave rise to a new type of severely disenfranchised working-class individual. During the New Deal, housing was subsidized when mass homelessness became an issue after the economic crash of 1929. Dunning says that nationally, the homelessness epidemic was in part caused by federal slashing of housing budget during the Regan administration which has led to chronic underfunding for local housing over the last 35 years.
The city of Denver’s response has been a number of “quality of life” measures criminalizing homelessness in various ways. A report released by Homeless Out Loud in conjunction with the University of Colorado Denver shows the ways in which Denver’s homeless population has been targeted by unfair policy practices.
The study showed, among other things that, individuals suffering from homelessness are consistently awoken by police, causing them to attempt to find more isolated sleeping locations, undermining their physical safety. Laws against urban camping have also limited the use of things like tents and sleeping bags, many of which are banned. This forces homeless individuals to go without personal shelter, leaving them open to the elements. These policies mean that 65% of respondents in the study report that they are constantly stressed and anxious about the possibility of police contact.
Perhaps Denver’s greatest failure, according to Dunning, is their refusal to fix the problem of homelessness itself. He says that the best way to deal with homelessness is for localities like Denver to simply invest in public housing again. Instead, “affordable housing,” run by private entities, has become the norm.
“Denver has done zero and refuses to do anything,” Dunning says.
The need for public housing in Denver is clear. According to Dunning, “87% of the renting market in Denver makes 35000 dollars a year or less.” But real estate developers don’t develop housing for that price range. Instead, they develop luxury apartments, and get huge tax breaks from local and state governments to do so.
“It’s all about real estate,” says Dunning.
The city of Denver’s investment and real estate over public housing has only exacerbated the homelessness epidemic in its streets; streets that, economically, are improving. Gentrifying neighborhoods are on the rise in Denver, and it has become one of the fastest-growing large cities in America, a sharp contrast to the poverty stricken homeless trying to survive on its streets.
Grace Wankelman, a DU student and Denver citizen, says that the problem isn’t just homelessness, it’s how people treat those without homes. In everything from the government to businesses to the general public, there is a very negative view of the homeless.
“When people are homeless, they’re not treated as humans,” she says.
Indeed, it can be easy to ignore what you can’t see. Dunning argues that this is why there is so much policing of the homeless. They are treated like pests to be removed rather than people.
The final question, then, seems to be what to do as a citizen. The first answer seems to be supporting legislation that funds public housing, and vote for politicians committed to helping rather than getting rid of the homeless. There are also a number of organizations that work on advocacy and support for homeless individuals, including but certainly not limited to Denver Homeless Out Loud.
But perhaps the most important thing that citizens can do is simply not look away. Acknowledge that this crisis is happening, and don’t give in to the idea that if you can’t see them, then they aren’t there. Grace Wankelman agrees.
“I don’t think about them enough, and I should.”
The MFJS Reporter -- Winter 2020 M-W 