The planning for a homeless shelter for women in a northeast Denver neighborhood has area residents stirred up, with neighbors telling organizers to take it somewhere else.
The Holy Rosary Church, 4688 Pearl St., in the Globeville neighborhood has been selected as a site for a women’s homeless shelter by Catholic Charities and Denver’s Road Home. But residents of the surrounding area say they have enough shelters in the community and they are concerned for the safety of their children. They say the .
“We don’t want it. We’ve worked really hard down here. Globeville is at a turning point,” Globeville Civic Association president David Oletski said, calling the plan a “disservice to the neighborhood.”
A neighborhood meeting at the church Monday night saw many upset residents turn out to express their displeasure about the prospects of the shelter and the fact that they were not involved in the process. They left with Catholic Charities CEO Larry Smith promising another meeting in a few weeks.
“I hope we can get to some agreement, even if it’s a pilot project for a few months,” Smith said.
Residents had been hearing rumors for months but didn’t have an opportunity to voice their concerns prior to Monday. A small meeting between Smith, Denver Councilwoman Judy Montero and Oletski also took place, with Oletski and Montero saying the neighborhood was mostly against adding another shelter. There are already two shelters in the neighborhood that serve men.
Montero said she received many calls from residents against having the shelter at Holy Rosary, She called the people of Globeville compassionate and reasonable people who did not have a voice in an important decision in the neighborhood.
Residents complained that Catholic Charities and Denver’s Road Home did not go about things the right way and left them out of the process, which led to many rumors.
“They are doing this to our community rather than including us in the conversation,” resident Catherine Ortiz said. “I get it, there are already shelters here, but that’s even more reason we should talk about this.”
If the shelter is to proceed, approximately 75-100 women would be picked up from outside the Samaritan House in downtown Denver and bused to Holy Rosary. The bus would arrive between 6 and 7 p.m. and take the women back downtown before 7 a.m.
At the church, the women would receive dinner and a bed. They would be sent off with a sack breakfast in the morning. The women would be on a one-strike policy, meaning that if they caused a problem or didn’t comply with rules, they would not be welcome back, according to Smith.
“The intention is to serve women who have no place who are in danger,” said Wendy Oldenbrook, marketing and communications director with Catholic Charities. “The consequences to them are harsh.”
The site was identified by Catholic Charities, which went to Denver’s Road Home to offer it up as a possible site for the shelter. Denver’s Road Home — a group tasked by the city to end homelessness — has been in search of a site because a current shelter at 1400 Elati St. is closing. Catholic Charities will invest nearly $200,000 for upgrades to the facilities at Holy Rosary to help with the shelter. The Archdiocese of Denver has final say on whether the shelter goes there or not.
Members of the congregation at Holy Rosary say the monsignor is in support of the shelter, but those who attend the church say they also have not been given enough information about the process.
“I feel completely in the dark,” said Mary Lou Egan, who attends the church. “I feel like they have not been forthcoming with information.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or
