Homelessness in Colorado

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Homeless man sleeping in 3 degC (37 degF) weather at the Colorado Supreme Court Building Homeless man sleeping at the Colorado Supreme Court Building.jpg
Homeless man sleeping in 3 °C (37 °F) weather at the Colorado Supreme Court Building

Homelessness is a growing problem in Colorado and is considered the most important social determinants of health (State of Colorado). Homelessness is very difficult for many Coloradoans to escape due to the continuous increase in costs for housing in Colorado, along with mental health treatments and other factors. When people are forced to live without stable shelter, they are then exposed to a number of risk factors that affect physical and mental health (State of Colorado). Although it is difficult to pin point any one cause of homelessness, there is a complicated combination of societal and individual causes.

Contents

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, [1] there were 10,857 people who were homeless within the state of Colorado in 2018. The number of homeless people increased from 2016 to 2017 by 1,121. [2] Colorado was ranked 7th in 2017 for largest homeless veteran count as well as 8th in the country out of 48 major metropolitan cities for homeless individuals. [3]

Homelessness in Denver

While he was Mayor of Denver, Colorado, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper made dealing with the issues that underlie homelessness a top priority on his agenda, speaking heavily on the issue during his first "State of the City" address in 2003. While Denver's homeless population is much lower than other major cities, the homeless residents have often suffered without shelter during the cold winters. In 2006, officials said that this number had risen over the past few years. [4]

Urban Camping Ban

In April 2012, [5] Denver enacted the Urban Camping Ban due to the Occupy Denver protest and the number of homeless on the 16th Street Mall. The ordinance was developed because businesses and individuals in Denver complained to the Mayor's Office and City Council about the number of people who were sleeping in front of their business doorways being disruptive and making it uncomfortable for individuals to enter their businesses. In addition, Occupy Denver had taken over public space near the capital building in Denver and it became a homeless compound consisting of tents and other structures. Councilman Albus Brooks sponsored the legislation. Mayor Michael Hancock and the City Council passed the Urban Camping Ban which prohibited individuals from sleeping in public places with a blanket over them or something between them and the ground. The Civil Liberties Union wrote a strong letter in opposition to the Denver ordinance.

Contributions

There are numerous factors which contribute to Colorado's homelessness rate that are not only caused by the state, but both individually and partially by the cities themselves.

Lack of affordable housing

The number of residents that have moved to Colorado since 2011 totals nearly 650,000. [6] This influx of residents has caused a shortage in affordable housing and contributed to the price of home ownership and renting increasing yearly. The costs have become so expensive that a person has to make nearly four times the state's minimum wage to afford a medium-priced rental. This model is unsustainable per the [7] which describes rent as being considered affordable if it is less than 30% of someone's total monthly income.

Lack of shelters

Research has also indicated a vast shortage in shelter capabilities and resources. The number of homeless people, which was nearly 11,000 in 2018, consisted of families, veterans and chronically homeless. [8] According to, [9] Denver, the state's capitol, can shelter less than ten percent of its homeless population, and other cities advertise their lack of shelters and resources in an effort to deter people from going to those cities. This means that people are forced to seek shelter wherever available and usually violate of one of the city ordinances, like no camping bans. During the winter months, shelters are on a first-come, first-served basis, and people are often waiting for hours in the cold for the doors to open. This is especially challenging for those trying to work because if they are not in line at a certain time, they will likely not get shelter that evening. There are simply not enough shelters or resources to handle the entire homeless demographic and too many limitations on getting into a shelter for the evening, which contributes to the limited progress of addressing this issue. In order to make a significant impact, the state can adopt multiple new methods that were proven effective in other places to help curb the demographic much faster.

Medical treatment

Accountable care organizations (ACO's) conducted research and found that housing needs had to be addressed before a person could effectively engage in medical treatment, and by addressing this issue first, medical costs were reduced by 53%. [10] Therefore, addressing housing needs can reduce medical treatment and further strain on resources.

Mental health

The biggest portion of homeless people in Colorado can be categorized as those with mental illnesses. [1] There is a shortage of mental health services for these people. The most common mental health issues among the homeless include depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. [11] Therapy sessions, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and prescription drugs are the most common mental health treatment options for the public, however, the homeless are unable to afford them. There are organizations who strive to help the homeless by providing food, shelter, and clothes, but there are currently not many organizations focused only on improving homeless people's mental health. Organizations currently use government funding, grants from private companies, and donations. New and more dynamic services for the homeless affected by mental health could be paid for in the same way.

According to Bharadwaj, Pai, and Suziedelyte (2017), [12] people are less likely to report that they have a mental health issue when compared to other medical conditions that may be ailing them. This stigma and fear of reporting is leading to many people deciding not to try and fight there disease on their own rather than seeking help.

Housing

Housing the homeless has been proven to help reduce homelessness, but that does not solve the mental health issue that a lot of homeless people possess. If organizations adopt a new program to house the homeless, get them counseling, and then help them get a job and food on the table, this will enhance their quality of life and their recovery process. The effects of mental health and the number of homeless people with mental health issues would be drastically diminished through programs of this nature.

Perception

Another factor is the perception that most people are homeless due to their own actions. While this may be true for a rare few, the majority are reluctant to seek services that could help better their situation due to fear of discrimination. Research conducted by, [13] shows that the homeless population are perceived as less than human and are not worthy of support or assistance. They often face contempt and prejudice amongst fellow homeless and normal residents. This is contributing to the perpetuation of chronic homelessness as people are too afraid to seek assistance and support.

Poor handling of homeless populations

The final factor is how the cities are handling this demographic. As of 2018, there have been 350 "anti-homeless" ordinances enacted across Colorado which criminalize daily survival necessities of the homeless, even though criminalizing these behaviors fails to mitigate the root causes and maintains conditions that keep people homeless. [14] While the cities have enacted these ordinances to combat hazards associated with the homeless such as fires, trash, crime, and tent cities, it instead creates a revolving door of street to jail, jail to street.

Legislation

Despite Colorado's growing homelessness problem, there has been a stout lack of legislation to help curb this growth.

Right to Rest Act

In 2015, the Right to Rest Act was introduced to Colorado (as well as Oregon and California) and would have changed the way Denver treats unsheltered citizens. The act attempted to offer homeless people rights to sleep on public property like parks and sidewalks. [15] The bill was postponed indefinitely on March 14, 2018, as the local government argued many effects from the piece of legislature would impact local law enforcement and funds such as city maintenance and enforcement relief. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Canada</span>

Homelessness in Canada was not a social problem until the 1980s. The Canadian government housing policies and programs in place throughout the 1970s were based on a concept of shelter as a basic need or requirement for survival and of the obligation of government and society to provide adequate housing for everyone. Public policies shifted away from rehousing in the 1980s in wealthy Western countries like Canada, which led to a de-housing of households that had previously been housed. By 1987, when the United Nations established the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH), homelessness had become a serious social problem in Canada. The report of the major 1987 IYSH conference held in Ottawa said that housing was not a high priority for government, and this was a significant contributor to the homelessness problem. While there was a demand for adequate and affordable housing for low income Canadian families, government funding was not available. In the 1980s a "wider segment of the population" began to experience homelessness for the first time – evident through their use of emergency shelters and soup kitchens. Shelters began to experience overcrowding, and demand for services for the homeless was constantly increasing. A series of cuts were made to national housing programs by the federal government through the mid-1980s and in the 1990s. While Canada's economy was robust, the cuts continued and in some cases accelerated in the 1990s, including cuts to the 1973 national affordable housing program. The government solution for homelessness was to create more homeless shelters and to increase emergency services. In the larger metropolitan areas like Toronto the use of homeless shelters increased by 75% from 1988 to 1998. Urban centres such as Montreal, Laval, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary all experienced increasing homelessness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in the United States</span>

In the United States, the number of homeless people on a given night in January 2023 was more than 650,000 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness has increased in recent years, in large part due to an increasingly severe housing shortage and rising home prices in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeless shelter</span> Service agency that provides temporary residence for homeless people

Homeless shelters are a type of service that provides temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact on the community. They are similar to, but distinguishable from, various types of emergency shelters, which are typically operated for specific circumstances and populations—fleeing natural disasters or abusive social circumstances. Extreme weather conditions create problems similar to disaster management scenarios, and are handled with warming centers, which typically operate for short durations during adverse weather.

Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives, and is an active "community services and funding" stream across the United States. It was developed by different professional academics and US governmental departments that supported housing. Supportive housing is widely believed to work well for those who face the most complex challenges—individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes and/or serious, persistent issues that may include substance use disorders, mental health, HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, diverse disabilities or other serious challenges to stable housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeless women in the United States</span>

Out of 10,000 female individuals 13 are homeless in the United States. Although studies reflect that circumstances vary depending on each individual, the average homeless woman is 35 years old, has children, is a member of a minority community, and has experienced homelessness more than once in their lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affordable housing</span> Housing affordable to those with a median household income

Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.

Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy in certain locations within the Western world. There is a substantial base of evidence showing that Housing First is both an effective solution to homelessness and a form of cost savings, as it also reduces the use of public services like hospitals, jails, and emergency shelters. Cities like Helsinki and Vienna in Europe have seen dramatic reductions in homelessness due to the adaptation of Housing First policies, as have the North American cities Columbus, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Medicine Hat, Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of homelessness in the United Kingdom

Homelessness in the United Kingdom is measured and responded to in differing ways in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but affects people living in every part of the UK's constituent countries. Most homeless people have at least a modicum of shelter but without any security of tenure. Unsheltered people, "rough sleepers", are a small minority of homeless people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness</span> Lacking stable, safe, functional housing

Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. The general category includes disparate situations, such as living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation such as family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their domiciles because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination against homeless people</span> Unfavorable treatment of homeless persons

Discrimination against homeless people is the act of treating homeless people or people perceived to be homeless unfavorably. As with most types of discrimination, it can manifest in numerous forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Seattle</span>

In the Seattle King County area, there were estimated to be 11,751 homeless people living on the streets or in shelters. On January 24, 2020, the count of unsheltered homeless individuals was 5,578. The number of individuals without homes in emergency shelters was 4,085 and the number of homeless individuals in transitional housing was 2,088, for a total count of 11,751 unsheltered people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in India</span> Major social issue in India

Homelessness is a major issue in India. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines 'homeless' as those who do not live in a regular residence. The United Nations Economic and Social Council Statement has a broader definition for homelessness; it defines homelessness as follows: ‘When we are talking about housing, we are not just talking about four walls and a roof. The right to adequate housing is about security of tenure, affordability, access to services and cultural adequacy. It is about protection from forced eviction and displacement, fighting homelessness, poverty and exclusion. India defines 'homeless' as those who do not live in Census houses, but rather stay on pavements, roadsides, railway platforms, staircases, temples, streets, in pipes, or other open spaces. There are 1.77 million homeless people in India, or 0.15% of the country's total population, according to the 2011 census consisting of single men, women, mothers, the elderly, and the disabled. However, it is argued that the numbers are far greater than accounted by the point in time method. For example, while the Census of 2011 counted 46,724 homeless individuals in Delhi, the Indo-Global Social Service Society counted them to be 88,410, and another organization called the Delhi Development Authority counted them to be 150,000. Furthermore, there is a high proportion of mentally ill and street children in the homeless population. There are 18 million street children in India, the largest number of any country in the world, with 11 million being urban. Finally, more than three million men and women are homeless in India's capital city of New Delhi; the same population in Canada would make up approximately 30 electoral districts. A family of four members has an average of five homeless generations in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Vancouver</span> Social crisis in Vancouver

Homelessness is a social crisis that has been rapidly accelerating in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia, over the last decade. According to the United Nations, homelessness can either be relative or absolute. Absolute homelessness describes people living in absence of proper physical shelter. Relative homelessness describes people living in poor conditions of health or security, including an absence of both personal safety and steady income despite having physical shelter to reside in. As of 2023, roughly 2,420 people in Vancouver are subject to one of these types of homelessness, or are transitioning between them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness and mental health</span>

In a study in Western societies, homeless people have a higher prevalence of mental illness when compared to the general population. They also are more likely to suffer from alcoholism and drug dependency. It is estimated that 20–25% of homeless people, compared with 6% of the non-homeless, have severe mental illness. Others estimate that up to one-third of the homeless have a mental illness. In January 2015, the most extensive survey ever undertaken found 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Depending on the age group in question and how homelessness is defined, the consensus estimate as of 2014 was that, at minimum, 25% of the American homeless—140,000 individuals—were seriously mentally ill at any given point in time. 45% percent of the homeless—250,000 individuals—had any mental illness. More would be labeled homeless if these were annual counts rather than point-in-time counts. Being chronically homeless also means that people with mental illnesses are more likely to experience catastrophic health crises requiring medical intervention or resulting in institutionalization within the criminal justice system. Majority of the homeless population do not have a mental illness. Although there is no correlation between homelessness and mental health, those who are dealing with homelessness are struggling with psychological and emotional distress. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration conducted a study and found that in 2010, 26.2 percent of sheltered homeless people had a severe mental illness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area</span>

The San Francisco Bay Area comprises nine northern California counties and contains five of the ten most expensive counties in the United States. Strong economic growth has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, but coupled with severe restrictions on building new housing units, it has resulted in an extreme housing shortage which has driven rents to extremely high levels. The Sacramento Bee notes that large cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles both attribute their recent increases in homeless people to the housing shortage, with the result that homelessness in California overall has increased by 15% from 2015 to 2017. In September 2019, the Council of Economic Advisers released a report in which they stated that deregulation of the housing markets would reduce homelessness in some of the most constrained markets by estimates of 54% in San Francisco, 40 percent in Los Angeles, and 38 percent in San Diego, because rents would fall by 55 percent, 41 percent, and 39 percent respectively. In San Francisco, a minimum wage worker would have to work approximately 4.7 full-time jobs to be able to spend less than 30% of their income on renting a two-bedroom apartment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Florida</span>

According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, as of January 2017, there are an estimated 32,190 homeless individuals in Florida. Of this high number, 2,846 are family households, 2,019 are unaccompanied young adults, 2,817 are veterans, and an estimated 5,615 are individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. According to a January 2020 count, this figure was 27,487 on any given day, a decrease from previous years. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as of December 2022, the estimate for homeless individuals has dropped to 25,959, about 5% of the total U.S. population. This is in spite of fears that moratorium's on evictions ending could lead to an increase in the homeless population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in the United States by state</span>

Homelessness in the United States has occurred to varying degrees across the country. The total number of homeless people in the United States fluctuates and constantly changes hence a comprehensive figure encompassing the entire nation is not issued since counts from independent shelter providers and statistics managed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development vary greatly. Federal HUD counts hover annually at around 500,000 people. Point-in-time counts are also vague measures of homeless populations and are not a precise and definitive indicator for the total number of cases, which may differ in both directions up or down. The most recent figure for the year 2019 that was given was at 567,715 individuals across the country that have experienced homelessness at a point in time during this period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in California</span>

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that more than 181,399 people were experiencing homelessness in California in January 2023. This represents more than 27% of the homeless population of the United States even though California has slightly less than 12% of the country's total population, and is one of the highest per capita rates in the nation, with 0.46% of residents being homeless. More than two-thirds of homeless people in California are unsheltered, which is the highest percentage of any state in the United States. 49% of the unsheltered homeless people in the United States live in California: about 123,423 people, which is eight times as many as the state with the second highest total. Even those who are sheltered are so insecurely, with 90% of homeless adults in California reporting that they spent at least one night unsheltered in the past six months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Oregon</span>

In 2016, a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that the U.S. state of Oregon had an estimated homeless population of 13,238 with about 60.5% of these people still unsheltered. In 2017, these numbers were even higher. As of January 2017, Oregon has an estimated 13,953 individuals experiencing homelessness. Of this homeless population, 1,083 are family households, 1,251 are veterans, 1,462 are unaccompanied young adults, and 3,387 are individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. As of 2022, 17,959 people total experienced homelessness in Oregon, with 2,157 individuals being youth under 18, 6,671 being female, 10,931 being male, and 131 being transgender. Also among the 17,959 total homeless in 2022, 15,876 were Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino, 2,083 were Hispanic/Latino, 13,960 were white, 1,172 were Black, African American, or African, 101 were Asian or Asian American, 880 were Native American, and those of multiple race were 1,619. Oregon has seen an increase in its total homeless population consistently every year since 2010. In last three years specifically Oregon has seen a 98.5% increase 2021-2022, 22.5% increase 2020-2021, and a 13.1% increase 2019-2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social services and homelessness in Columbus, Ohio</span> Aspects of support for low-income and homeless residents of Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, the capital city of Ohio, has a history of social services to provide for low- and no-income residents. The city has many neighborhoods below the poverty line, and has experienced a rise in homelessness in recent decades. Social services include cash- and housing-related assistance, case management, treatment for mental health and substance abuse, and legal and budget/credit assistance.

References

  1. 1 2 HUD 2018 Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs Homeless Populations and Subpopulations. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/reportmanagement/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CO_2018.pdf.
  2. Henry, M., Watt, R., Rosenthal, L., Shivji, A., & Associates A. (Dec. 2017). Part 1: Point-in-time estimates of homelessness:The 2017 annual homeless assessment report (AHAR) to congress. The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  3. State of Colorado. (2018). Homelessness and Health. Retrieved from Colorado Official State Web Portal: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PSD_SDOH_Homelessness_long.pdf
  4. "Redirect". Archived from the original on May 12, 2006.
  5. Dezzutti, Dominic (April 2012). "The True Motivation behind the Denver Camping Ban". CBS Denver. CBS. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  6. (United States Census Bureau, n.d)
  7. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, [USICH], (2014)
  8. (USICH, n.d)
  9. Ruan (2018)
  10. (Fraze, Lewis, Rodriguez and Fisher, 2016)
  11. "Mental disorders keep thousands of homeless on streets". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  12. Bharadwaj, P., Pai, M., & Suziedelyte, A. (2017). Mental Health Stigma. Economics Letters, 159, 57-60. doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2017.06.028.
  13. Johnston, Jetten, Dingle, Parsell and Walter (2016)
  14. (Ruan, 2018)
  15. Institute of Real Estate Management. (November 1, 2015). IREM committee adopts new legislative statement of policy on homelessness. Journal of Property Management, 27
  16. Staff, L. C. (May 17, 2018). Final Fiscal Note. Right to rest act. Denver, Colorado, United States: Nonpartisan Services for Colorado's Legislature