Denver's Overland residents express frustration over safety at micro-community site
With construction trucks already set up on a plot of land off 2301 South Santa Fe Drive, fears among residents in Denver's Overland neighborhood about living near a micro-community site are coming to fruition.
"Just because we're not a big neighborhood, doesn't mean we don't have feelings here too," said Elmer Dever. "As far as what they're really going to do, nobody actually knows."
The now-confirmed location to become one of the city's first micro-community sites under Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's homelessness housing initiative was officially announced to residents over the weekend. Despite previous town hall meetings where the mayor addressed the possibility of using the land on Santa Fe Drive, owned by the Colorado Department of Transportation, Overland neighborhood residents say they felt blindsided as this became the first official site to break ground.
"Why can't we sit down and go back to the drawing board and see what else we can do," said Estancia Montoya, a nearby resident of the site.
Just this week, a stabbing took place at the Comfort Inn location on 4685 Quebec St., a city-owned hotel converted into a homeless shelter. Montoya, who has also worked at a homeless shelter in the past, says incidents like that one worry her about what safety could look like at a micro-community site so close to existing residents.
"I've experienced where someone was being raped within the facility which was housing about 80 people, and I want to say there was like 60 rooms," she said. "I've had to call for numerous fights, and so I know the dangers of a community within a bigger building that is being housed. So, I know that this is going to be more dangerous being within a residential area.
city leaders have expressed that this and other micro-community site locations will be fenced and have 24 staff on site. However, residents say they are concerned about what happens if those experiencing homelessness step outside of the property or if this draws even more encampments to the areas.
"The response time for the police to come to this area is very long unless it's an absolute emergency," said Briane Montoya.
The micro-community site will be "low barrier," meaning no requirement for sobriety in order to be housed, and roughly 120 people will be able to live on this site by the end of the year.
"If it was a sober living home, it would definitely be more welcoming for the neighborhood," said Estancia. "Now you're going to house like 100 people here that are not sober living. So, let's say 50 people here are on drugs, they're drug dealers are going to be here selling it."
CBS News Colorado did reach out to the mayor's office for additional comment on concerns related to future micro-community sites, especially in the wake of the stabbing at a hotel shelter but have not heard back as of the time of publishing
