“There’s always an easy solution to every problem — neat, plausible and wrong.”
- L. Mencken
by Luke Schmaltz
Although camping in public areas has been “illegal” in the city of Denver since 2012, the homeless presence is expanding, tent cities are widespread, and the encampments are perpetuating crime, illegal drug use, and wholesale danger to everyone in the immediate vicinity.
A 2019 attempt to overturn the urban camping ban was unanimously voted down by 83%. Yet, while the sporadic sweep of encampments continues, often it is not until a deadly situation has arisen such as with the Morey Middle School encampment last year, and the encampment at 11th and Ogden on Capitol Hill, which was recently dismantled after a gun battle within the camp finally inspired action by the Denver Police Department.
In a June 30 public statement outside a women’s homeless shelter at 4600 East 48th Avenue, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock stated, “An episode of homelessness should be no more than a brief, one-time circumstance, and we must do everything in our power to stabilize our most vulnerable neighbors,” he said. “House keys have more power to change lives than a tent.” During this speech, the mayor also announced a new housing and homeless strategy — a five-prong plan which includes purchasing motels and hotels and turning them into supportive housing, extending housing voucher programs, adding more sanctioned camping sites, increasing the availability of housing, and adding more eviction protection and rental assistance.
Multiple Culprits
Homeless In Neighborhoods: It is widely known that anyone can camp out on the streets of Denver without legal consequences.
The City of Denver is allocating more funds than ever before to deal with the homeless crisis; the solutions, however, seem to be missing the mark. Although there is some truth to the observation that homelessness is caused by an inability to afford a place to live, it is far likelier that the situation is the result of a more complex combination of circumstances.
If housing was the sole issue, then the myriad sanctioned shelters offering beds, showers and meals would be — at the very least — having somewhat of an impact on the growing problem. Yet, contrary to the expected result, the solution at hand seems to be having a reverse effect. Perhaps it is not working because it is not accurately addressing the problem. The current policy is akin to a Band-Aid on an ax wound, a cup of water on a forest fire, a moldy biscuit into the hand of a starving person in a country with no shortage of food.
You Don’t Say
Once it is accepted that the causes of homelessness run deeper than a simple lack of places to live, the discussion can continue. Among the many possibilities are four standouts which deserve consideration: Drug addiction, the lack of healthcare for the mentally ill, an experimental (and failing) approach to law enforcement policy, and a populace that is vastly divided on the imminent threat and what it means to self-police.
Just Take Two
The prescription drug boom of the early-to-mid 2010s created millions of addicts as doctors, using the tried and true “misdiagnose and overprescribe” approach, made handsome amounts of money in kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. Finally, under intense pressure from the DEA and the public at large, the FDA began imposing tighter regulations in 2014. In the case of the near 50 million patients who were prescribed opioids in 2013 alone, this created a growing tide of addicted users of painkillers such as Demerol, Vicodin, and Oxycontin.
A June 2021 report published by drug abuse.gov cites extensive studies which link heroin use to prescription pills and their increasing unavailability. The report explains, “… almost half of all opioid deaths in the U.S. now involve a prescription opioid … Research now suggests that misuse of these medications may actually open the door to heroin use. Some also report switching to heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids.” Someone addicted to opioids who turns to street drugs may not have both feet in the gutter, but they have definitely begun to step off thanks to the medical/pharmaceutical industrial complex.
It’s All In Your Head
Refuse To Be A Victim: Most people living near an illegal encampment do not understand the level of potential danger they are in.
The saying “homelessness causes addiction and addiction causes homelessness” gets thrown around a lot in discussions like this, and the term “mental illness” can be substituted for “addiction” with great accuracy. It has long been acknowledged that mental instability is an underlying contributor.
In fact, a report published in July 2009, by the National Coalition for the Homeless states, “Serious mental illnesses disrupt people’s ability to carry out essential aspects of daily life, such as self-care and household management. Mental illnesses may also prevent people from forming and maintaining stable relationships or cause people to misinterpret others’ guidance and react irrationally. This often results in pushing away caregivers, family, and friends who may be the force keeping that person from becoming homeless. As a result of these factors and the stresses of living with a mental disorder, people with mental illnesses are much more likely to become homeless than the general population (Library Index, 2009). A study of people with serious mental illnesses seen by California’s public mental health system found that 15% were homeless at least once in a one-year period (Folsom et al., 2005). Patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are particularly vulnerable.” Yet, nowhere in Mayor Hancock’s five-prong plan to address homelessness is there mention of mental health services.
Police Paralysis
Intense public pressure and widespread scrutiny after the 2020 Downtown protests have forced Denver police officers and those in surrounding districts to adopt a hands-off approach to fighting crime. Police departments are having to operate in a fire department-type capacity where they respond only if a citizen calls rather than use proactive tactics such as patrol, stop, search, etc., to reduce crime. This policy has placed normally actionable crimes such as drug dealing, drug using, assault, theft, and public evacuation of one’s bodily wastes on “low priority” — sending a signal to campers that there is a new era of lawlessness afoot, it’s a free-for-all drug party and there are no consequences for committing many types of crimes.
What’s more, a new group of policy influencers are at work known as The Denver Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety. This group is comprised of activists and youth ministry leaders as well as individuals from civil rights, faith-based, policy advocacy, and youth services organizations. They have put together a 53-page report of a total of 112 recommendations on how the police at large can better serve the communities in which they work. Strangely, not one of the 140+ members is a police officer or has any experience whatsoever in the business of fighting crime.
Their recommendations were recently submitted to Denver City Council, who will review and determine the next course of action. Movements such as this reinforce the message to the criminal element that more bureaucratic red tape is on the horizon, police will have to continue to “look the other way,” and the consequence-free camping, drugging, stealing, and raping party can continue indefinitely.
It Takes A Village
Opioid Addiction: A prescription for painkillers can lead to opioid addiction, to illegal drugs, and then to living on the street.
It is unfair and inaccurate to label someone as a criminal because they are homeless. As stated above, they could be suffering from addiction, mental illness, or economic hardship which resulted in them not having a place to live. Yet, it is downright ignorant and just plain stupid to think that homeless encampments do not contain a criminal element. As anyone who has had a camp pop up on their block can attest — theft, harassment, assault, muggings, and the widespread presence of hypodermic needles all increase in the area exponentially.
Yet, citizens are divided on taking a unified stance that these phenomena are bad for the neighborhood, and some go so far as to verbally attack their housed neighbors who are not in favor of the denigration of the community. What’s more, without an overt police presence, citizens must protect themselves from predators and the sad fact is that most people do not know how to fight, or even the basics of self-defense. The lack of a unified community mindset and the clear signs that most people cannot defend themselves send yet another signal to people living in illegal camps that it is ok to do as they please because nobody on the block is willing or able to do anything about it.
So, as you drive past the camps in your city, in your neighborhood and on your block and wonder why it is happening, you may want to look past the obvious conclusion of economic hardship and take a further glimpse into causal factors. Instead of blaming the homeless, blame the doctors and pharmaceutical companies, blame inherent human craziness, blame the bureaucrats, and yeah — blame yourself.