As Mayor John Hickenlooper pushes a plan to funnel the homeless off the streets, controversy is brewing in neighborhoods where they would go.
The Capitol Hill neighborhood has become a flashpoint for the issue. Some neighborhood leaders in the area object to a plan by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to offer subsidized apartments for 30 homeless people recovering from alcoholism and drug dependency.
Neighborhood leaders met with the coalition Thursday night to hash out the issue during a fractious meeting. Councilwoman Jeanne Robb mediated. Some fear the apartments could damage efforts to attract upscale housing. They also say the apartments would be near Pearl Street, known as a haven for drug dealers.
“Several expressions I have heard is that we shouldn’t put people who probably have substance-abuse problems in an area where they can walk out the front door and get the substance of their choice,” said Kathi Anderson, president of the Unsinkables, a neighborhood group that patrols the area with off-duty police.
“It’s a fragile neighborhood,” Anderson said, noting that the neighborhood already is home to a site where food is distributed to the homeless. She brought to the meeting an 83-page list of police calls over the past year from the coalition’s 212-bed unit at the downtown YMCA. She said her neighborhood couldn’t handle such problems.
“Why put it in this location?” asked Mark Nachtigal, the vice president of the Unsinkables. “It’s like putting a recovering alcoholic on a stool in a bar.”
The apartments, at 1205 Washington St., most of which are vacant, are among the first wave of transitional housing expected under the mayor’s 10-year plan. Hickenlooper wants to add 3,193 housing units for the homeless and low-income residents over the coming decade. Unlike homeless shelters, some of the transitional housing, like the Capitol Hill project, will need no special zoning or other city approval.
“Housing and supportive services are really the cornerstone of the plan to end homelessness,” said Sue Cobb, spokeswoman for Denver Human Services. “Our bottom-line goal is to get the homeless off the streets and out of shelters and into permanent housing.”
The new housing is supposed to get the homeless into a stable environment, where they can recover from mental-health issues and drug dependency and eventually become productive members of society. During Thursday’s meeting, some people who have benefited from the coalition’s services said the refuge the new apartments would provide was crucial.
“I’ve ate things that would make a billy goat puke,” said Terry Sanchez, who has been homeless. He credited the coalition’s programs with keeping him sober. Now he stays home and cooks for his wife.
Others in the neighborhood remained wary.
“My concern is the loitering from their friends,” said Lorraine DeMersseman, who owns three apartment buildings in Capitol Hill with her husband. “What do they do during the day? They hang out in the parking lot. They hang out on other people’s lawns.”
