POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Simply housing folks not a measure of success
My thoughts on the Denver Mayor's plan to reduce homelessness
Below is an excerpt from my most recent column with Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette, and the Denver Gazette. You can read the full piece here.
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“Homelessness” is a misnomer — or at the very least a deceiving oversimplification — for the crisis Denver and Colorado face. Though it is absolutely true the folks living along the streets of our capital city are indeed without a home, such a term obscures their journey to a life of cold nights and hunger.
Our brothers and sisters living within tents are not there simply because their homes disappeared one day. Most of them struggle daily with either mental health issues or addiction. As such, simply moving them out of thin, polyester walls and into the confines of timber and drywall does little to ensure their survival. Therefore, we must establish the definition of success when it comes to any measure to combat “homelessness.”
Denver Mayor Michael Johnston’s efforts are laudable, if for no other reason than the fact he is actually taking action in comparison to his predecessor who seemed resigned to the status quo’s insurmountability. Getting more than 1,000 of these individuals off the streets in half a year is a first step worthy of optimism, but as Kyle Clark put it well earlier this week, it is “a first step that would be remembered as a misstep if the city can’t manage to keep those people sheltered and to move most of them into housing.”