Your Guide to Community, Politics, Arts and Culture in North Denver DenverNorthStar.com
|
Volume 5, Issue 4
| January 15, 2024-February 14, 2024
Migrant Camp Near Speer and Zuni Dismantled, Residents Head Indoors or Disperse
|
ALWAYS FREE!
Former Mullen Home Acts as Interim Housing for Migrant Families By London Lyle
O
that nearly half of them will either request a bus ticket that same day or within a few days.” By Dec. 28, bilingual housing navigators — city staff, partner organizations and volunteers — set up shop at nearby Ashland Recreation Center and began matching encampment residents with apartments and helping them fill out applications. According to Ewing, around 100 people had been accepted into leased apartments by Jan. 3, though some would have to stay in the city’s congregate shelter until leased units were ready for them. Over 300 rental applications had been submitted by Jan. 3. At 8:30 a.m. the day the camp was to be dismantled, outreach workers wearing yellow vests began going tent-to-tent, explaining that each person could bring two suitcases and two yellow bags full of belongings with them to the shelter. Buses would begin departing for shelters at 10 a.m. V Reeves, an organizer with the housing advocacy group Housekeys Action Network Denver, also spent the day at the site, helping camp residents understand their options and the process. Reeves and others wondered if the pre-dawn arrival of fencing and police had been perceived as threatening. “My hope is that we don't lose people to fear,” Reeves said early that morning. “That we don't have people who leave and have nowhere to go and then are further displaced and separated from the rest of the community, where we can't connect with them and support them.” Council President Pro Tem Amanda Sandoval (Northwest Denver District 1) and Council members Diana Romero Campbell (southeast Denver District 4) and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez (Atlarge) joined outreach workers. Sandoval said she visited the camp every day for the last few months, looking for families living in tents outdoors who the city will house in its hotel-style shelters. She monitored city services like trash removal and portable toilets and checked to make sure pathways for fire department access were clear. “My hope today is that we get everyone indoors and off the street, no longer living in tents,” San-
n Dec. 21, 2023, a deal between the Archdiocese and the city of Denver went into effect with multiple migrant families moving into the Mullen Home (formerly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor) on 3629 W. 29th Ave. Seven migrant families are currently staying in the Mullen Home, and this number will gradually ramp up over the coming weeks as they onboard several more families. While there are 75 apartment units available for use, the final headcount is to be determined, said Stacy Baum, vice president of marketing at Catholic Charities. The deal between the Archdiocese and Denver is a land swap, with the value of city land signed over to the Archdiocese fully covering rental costs for the yearlong lease of the Mullen Home. While residents and the city are off the hook for rental expenses, the city has agreed to pay $1.5 million to cover the cost of basic upkeep, including utilities, maintenance, repairs and insurance. Although the selected migrant families staying in the Mullen home are in more secure housing situations than those on the street or in shelters, this is not a long-term housing solution. The families can stay in the Mullen home for three months while they search for permanent places to live. After receiving numerous questions from community members who wondered why there was no community meeting or a good neighbor agreement before the families moved in, Denver City Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval emphasized that the Mullen home is not acting as a shelter. “The Mullen Home is intended to be an interim housing solution for families who have timed out of the shelter and need a place to live until they find permanent housing. It’s just a different housing option for newcomers in our community,” Sandoval said. Coordinators strive to prioritize families who have been in shelters for extended lengths of time in the selection process for placement into the Mullen Home. And some families have been in shelters for quite a while. In October, Denver Human Services increased their length-of-stay policies in shelters for families with children from 30 to 37, and on Nov. 17, they paused shelter discharges for families altogether. Jon Ewing, Denver Human Services spokesperson on migrant sheltering, pointed out that there are different levels of housing insecurity migrant families might have to face. Whether a family is struggling with the harsh Colorado winters out on the streets or cannot make rent each month in an apartment consistently, each level comes with its unique set of challenges. “It’s different for every family. There are so many obstacles in their path that they have very little control over. One of those obstacles is work authorization. While people may find work, it’s often under-the-table,
See CAMP, Page 10
See MULLEN, Page 6
COMMUNITY Neighbors Raise Heck Over Proposed Raising Cane’s Drive-Thru PAGE 2
POLITICS North Denver Representatives Turn to Constituent Promises for 2024 Session PAGE 3
PHOTO BY KATHRYN WHITE
Mayor Mike Johnston walked through the encampment Jan. 3 and spoke with several migrants about their circumstances.
ARTS AND CULTURE Regis Professor Eric Fretz Breaks into Crime Fiction with ‘Groundswell’ PAGE 5
TRANSPORTATION A Record Year of Crashes: Why are Denver Streets More Dangerous than Ever? PAGE 6
HISTORY Navajo Art District PAGE 7
EDUCATION Affecting Positive Change PAGE 9 Postal Customer
By Kathryn White efore the sun rose at 27th and Zuni the morning of Jan. 3, a multi-department city operation honed during Mayor Mike Johnston’s House1000 initiative had kicked into gear. Chainlink fence segments were erected around the perimeter of the over 150-tent community along 27th between Zuni and Alcott, continuing around the corner toward 26th and down Alcott Street toward West Byron Place. Police officers stood ready, quietly talking to one another, releasing misty vapor breaths into the morning’s 23-degree air. TV cameras lined up outside the fence, as did neighbors, housing advocates and volunteers from nearby mutual aid groups. A father and his teen daughter were inside the fence helping residents in one of the tents organize their belongings. Others arrived: an operations team, a waste-removal truck, city outreach staff and staff from partner organizations. City workers zip-tied fence segments together and dropped off rolls of large yellow plastic bags near each section of tents. For those living at the camp, the morning of Jan. 3 wasn’t the rinse-and-repeat streamlined operation made efficient by the city in recent months. It was moving day. And because communication was a challenge, given language barriers and the size of the camp, some didn’t know what was happening and where they were to go. On Dec. 27, 2023, the city taped flyers in Spanish and English on each tent, notifying occupants of the “multi-agency cleanup” that would take place Jan. 3. Anything they didn’t take with them would be removed to temporary storage where it would be disposed of after 60 days. Migrants were given three options: they could apply for an apartment the city would help pay for, they could go to a congregate shelter, or they could receive a free bus ticket to anywhere in the United PRESORTED States. The latter option is STANDARD made available to all miU.S. POSTAGE grants upon arrival in Denver. City spokesperson Jon Denver, CO Ewing put it this way, “If Permit No. 2565 200 people arrive by bus in EDDM a day, there's a good chance
B
PAID