DENVER — On the campaign trail, Mike Johnston said he would stop sweeping homeless residents in freezing temperatures. But months into his tenure as mayor of Denver, Johnston changed course, vetoing a city council ordinance that would’ve done just that.
Denver City Council members voted to not enforce the city’s camping ban when temperatures drop below 32 degrees. In a campaign forum while running for mayor, Johnston backed such legislation.
But when he announced his veto in a news conference, Johnston said his decision was necessary to prevent further public health and safety issues.
Rocky Mountain PBS noted Mayor Johnston’s claims from the press release, and provided more context.
Claim 1: “Though well intentioned, this legislation would restrict the city’s ability to do this life-saving work.”
According to the bill, outreach efforts that include moving of people and disposal of belongings would merely be delayed until temperatures rose above freezing. It would not prevent other modes of outreach.
While Johnston’s 2023 “House 1000” initiative sheltered or housed more than 1000 individuals after sweeps, there are still people who fall through the cracks. The House 1000 dashboard does not display the number of people who were not initially moved indoors.
Unhoused individuals have reported a variety of issues with traditional shelters, including assault and robbery.
While hotel and micro-communities are presented as an option for those experiencing addiction because they do not require sobriety, there is a documented history of tension between police, city workers and the unhoused that can cause a base-level of mistrust or avoidance.
When belongings are discarded, those left on the streets are at an increased risk of frostbite, hypothermia and other health risks.
Claim 2: “We have not, nor intend to, do large encumbrance removals when the temperature is 32 degrees or below without housing or shelter options, with the exception of major public health and safety risks."
During the fall and winter of 2023, around 10 "encumbrance removals,” or sweeps, were conducted. Five took place in December leading up to the holidays and the deadline of the “House 1000” initiative.
According to Denver weather reports, a sweep was done in freezing temperatures on December 12, at the same location in which Johnston had previously cancelled a sweep upon visiting its residents.
Additional sweeps were planned for the last weekend in December, with temperatures dipping as low as 5 degrees, followed by a multiple-day sweep of a migrant camp beginning January 3, with night temperatures ranging from 23-28 degrees.
January 23 an encampment near the National Western Complex was swept in 32 degree temperatures, and again the following day in 30 degrees.
Furthermore,amendments to the billprohibiting sweeps in freezing temperatures would have allowed for city officials to override the ban in the case of health or safety risks that surpass the risks of a sweep.
Claim 3:As drafted, this legislation restricts our ability to close encampments due to public health and safety risks. The city has always maintained the authority to close encampments when they pose public safety risks. This year alone we have seen rat infestations, exploding propane tanks and gun violence erupt in encampments.
At an August news conference announcing why he would be resuming sweeps without permanent housing options, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said a camp between Stout Street, 22nd Street, California Street and Park Avenue West was infested with rats.
Advocates with Housekeys Action Network — a mutual aid and activist’s group — said the rats took shelter between rocks that nearby property owners put up in efforts to prevent people from camping in the area. The rats, Housekeys advocates said, were due to the rocks in place, not garbage from the camp.
At a December Denver City Council meeting where council members voted to ban freezing sweeps, Denver Health Infectious Disease Doctor Sarah Rowan said the hospital has seen an uptick in frostbite-related visits throughout the last five years. In 2023, the hospital treated 164 individuals for frostbite, and 115 of the patients were unhoused. In many cases, Rowan said patients with frostbite end up with complications such as wounds, chronic pain or amputation.
Rowan said many patients told her and other doctors that instead of staying in shelters, they opted for outdoor camping across the street. Rowan urged City Council to discontinue sweeping folks in freezing temperatures, arguing that forcing people out of tents and into the cold often creates more severe medical complications than allowing them to stay in tents.
Denver’s homeless shelters are only open at night, leaving unhoused folks with few options during the day. On the coldest days of the year, Denver opens warming centers in recreation centers and public libraries. But a report from National Healthcare for the Homeless Council also found homeless sweeps are “counterproductive, costly and harmful.”
Typically, homeless encampments become sources of community and support for those who live in them. People removed from this support system often experience worsening pre-existing mental health issues and introduces new physical health issues, according to the report.
Police also take belongings from those who are swept and cited for camping. Such belongings can include life-saving medication and essential documents, making it more difficult for a person to obtain permanent housing or a job.
Claim 4: “The encampment resolution model is the cornerstone of our approach to encampments and successfully brought more than 1,135 people indoors in under six months while permanently closing those locations to future camping.”
Advocates against homeless sweeps — including unhoused individuals — said forcing people out of their communities and taking their belongings is ineffective as a means to realizing the ultimate goal of getting people employed and into housing.
Data from the mayor’s office shows the city had permanently housed 1,293 people by the first week of March 2024.
But the 2023 point-in-time count — an annual count of houseless people required for all United States cities receiving funds from the federal government — reported about 9,000 homeless people in the Denver metro area. The PIT count includes those who stay in shelters at night.
Other cities are working to reduce their homelessness counts to almost zero without sweeping houseless individuals from block to block.
The number of homeless people in Bakersfield, Calif. Dropped from 283 to three over the last six years as the city built enough housing to house all its residents.
Bakersfield has about 407,000 residents, whereas Denver has about 711,000. Portland, Oregon — which is closer to Denver’s size — is also trying the Built for Zero initiative.
City officials attributed their success to the Built for Zero initiative, a data-driven approach that touts itself as “a methodology and movement of communities working to prove that it is possible to make homelessness rare and brief.”
Alison Berg is a reporter at Rocky Mountain PBS. alisonberg@rmpbs.org.
Elle Naef is a multimedia producer at Rocky Mountain PBS. ellenaef@rmpbs.org.
