10 years into camping ban, unsheltered residents express frustration to Denver City Council
DENVER — Ten years after the City and County of Denver enacted a ban on camping on city streets, unhoused residents and advocates are asking the city to consider the harm its policy has created.
In the Denver City Council public comment forum May 9, nearly two dozen residents shared grueling experiences of brutality and cruelty they said they’ve experienced at the hands of Denver Police officers and others as a result of the camping ban.
One man said he was advised to begin using drugs so he could get into a homeless shelter easier; another said he had a gun pulled on him after he attempted to stop a robbery.
Residents described instances of brutal assault by other residents and police officers, having belongings stolen, struggling to hold down jobs and obtain permanent housing. The group spoke during the public comment forum at the beginning of the city council meeting.
Ana Cornelius, executive director of Denver Homeless Out Loud, told Rocky Mountain PBS the ban has made the city money by shuffling unhoused folks around and arresting them for petty crimes, which is why, she said, the city refuses to disavow it.
“I think it’s a rehash of slavery in that it’s the commodification of human beings,” Cornelius said. “There’s profit being made from the shuffling of human beings and from moving them with no reason.”
Wearing shirts that read “Denver’s decade of doom” the group spoke about the brutal realities of the ordinance, which they said is inhumane and has allowed violence against people experiencing homelessness to persist unchecked.
“This decade of chaos has been created to protect business interest and not human life,” said Kenny White, a man who said he used to be unhoused but now has housing. “I’ve seen what happens to the homeless. They’re treated as less than dogs.”
White said the camping ban and actions that have followed have put unhoused residents in danger and degraded their quality of life.
“These are people who are trying to get themselves back up when society has kicked them, and you’ve done nothing but beat them even more,” White said. “You really just don’t care about human life. That’s how you’ve shown yourselves to be.”
Denver passed its camping ban through a city council vote in 2012, and residents who spoke on Monday night said conditions have only worsened since then.
“The shelters have not improved, the cops have not improved, things have not improved and this city has not become a better place so you can sweep human lives under the rug, it’s unacceptable and it’s disgusting, and you are all monsters,” White told council members. “People are trying to make their lives better, and you constantly kick them, and you constantly belittle them and think of them as less.”
You can watch the full public comment period in the video player below.
Robert Austin, spokesman for Denver City Council, said while council has no plans to reverse the ban, they appreciated hearing from unhoused residents, whose voices are often missing from public dialogue.
“Public comment is the only forum in our city government that’s like that, where citizens can come and just talk about anything, so we think it’s super important,” Austin said in an interview with Rocky Mountain PBS. “I want to stress that we welcome that.”
As for the harm many say the camping ban has caused, Austin said city council may not be the proper body to weigh in on that issue, even though they are the only body with the power to expand or reverse the ban.
“Originally, the idea of what harm has been done, what has the impact been, I’m not sure that city council is in a position to answer that question,” Austin said.
On May 20, Austin said the council plans to discuss its annual budget, which will include other priorities for how to address homelessness.
“The camping ban is part of the bigger issue,” Austin added.
While transitioning an unhoused person into housing can be difficult, Cornelius said there are other solutions, like designated camping sites and more public trash and bathroom options.
“Encampments are not a desirable thing, but until we create policies that the city will subsidize housing, then we have to deal with what is here in a way that meets the needs of all residents,” Cornelius said. “We need ways in which people can exist in accordance with public safety.
Others who spoke said escaping homelessness is nearly impossible, and building any sort of wealth is even more difficult.
“Once you do become a step up, you’re going to be serving people that you will never be,” said Tyler Emerson, who was previously unhoused. “We have kept wealth in the same five percent of families in America for generations, and that needs to change. We need an equal distribution of resources.”
Cornelius said the camping ban is unpopular among all city residents — housed and unhoused — which is why she encourages the city to reverse its policy.
“We need some responsible and courageous leadership that is not afraid to clean up some messes and say this was not good policy,” Cornelius said. “There’s no harm in saying that we tried something and it didn’t work, so we’re going to try something else.”
Alison Berg is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at alisonberg@rmpbs.org.