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Understanding Homelessness in Colorado
With almost 10,000 people experiencing homelessness statewide, it is abundantly clear that no community in our state is immune from the causes and consequences of homelessness. A complex issue like homelessness requires multifaceted solutions paired with a comprehensive understanding of the roots and causes, the impact on and in the community, the response of housed neighbors, and the unique and collaborative ways that we must address homelessness as responsible community members.
Homelessness often does not happen overnight or because of one single "bad" decision but because of an overwhelming number of unfortunate circumstances compounded by the systems that make it nearly impossible to crawl out of the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Homelessness can be the result of a severe mental health crisis and no access to medical care causing a loss of employment, domestic violence situations that included financial abuse, severe childhood trauma that led to years of self-medicating with alcohol and drugs to combat their mental health issues, and many other similarly compounded and multifaceted situations.
The stories of homelessness, no matter what the circumstances, almost always involve the criminal justice system because of the criminalization of homelessness, an ill-advised policy that erupted about twenty-five years ago and has had a stronghold on the unhoused population ever since. Throughout the 76 most populous cities in Colorado, there are 351 laws which criminalize being unhoused, according to the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law 2016 report "Too High a Price." These crimes, which often come with tickets, fines, or jail, are imposed for survival outside, such as sleeping, urinating and defecating, staying out of the elements, sharing food, keeping oneself warm, and earning money, among others. These same activities bear no consequence when a person does them inside the comfort of their home. Across the nation, anti-homelessness laws continue to increase, including bans on sleeping outside or in vehicles, panhandling, sharing food, and trespassing.
Criminalizing survival makes it extremely difficult for people experiencing homelessness to get out of the cycle because people are routinely punished further for having a criminal record. Background checks are required for housing, jobs, and sometimes access to certain benefits. Exacerbating this is that wages have not kept up with the cost of housing, so...