Some proposed Denver pallet home locations neighbor residences, sparking some initial concern
Denver resident Lawrence Lewis is taking every opportunity he can to get out of homelessness.
"How I see it is if they give you the opportunity, take it," he said.
Lewis has been experiencing homelessness for about seven years. As of late, he's been working with the Denver Rescue Mission to get back on his feet through the New Life Program, where he receives work experience, access to their overnight shelter and meal service, all while getting himself ready to go back into the workforce.
"Getting back on my meds that I use for anxiety," said Lewis. "Doing some counseling that they offer and going through the job trainings."
Yet, with the long-term goal being finding permanent housing, Lewis is feeling hopeful about another opportunity: Mayor Mike Johnston's announcement of 11 potential sites for micro-communities for the unhoused.
"Obviously we want people experiencing homelessness to live in communities that are safe and have access to all the things that we need," said Cole Chandler, Senior Adviser for Homelessness Resolution with the City of Denver.
While some of the proposed locations are in more industrial areas, it is sites like 1380 S. Birch Street and 5500 E. Yale that sit up against neighborhoods.
"If the location is managed as I've seen the other locations managed with the condition of the mentioned services, I'm cautiously optimistic that it can work well," said District 6 Councilmember Paul Kashmann.
While the birch street location is roughly half a mile from Ellis Elementary School, Kashmann says he still thinks this plan will be a better alternative to unregulated camping across the city.
"The worst of all decisions is to no do anything to leave people on the street where they just continue to suffer more and more issues," said Kashmann.
The city said proximity to schools was among the factors they were looking at when determining potential sites for a combination of micro-communities, pallet homes, and hotels to support the unhoused population.
"Were really trying to ensure that no site was within a quarter mile of a school," said Chandler. "We didn't hit that with this list on every single circumstance, but we felt good enough about these sites to bring them forward and bring them to the public discourse and see where we move things forward from here."
As city leaders continue to seek public input and vet all potential sites, they also plan to ensure residents know safety both inside and outside of future micro-communities is a priority.
"If people could just be open-minded, give them the chance. That's all you can do is give these people a chance to make a life for themselves, to get them off the streets, to change their life, the ones that want to change their life," said Lewis.
The city has already hosted two town hall meetings since announcing the list of 11 potential sites for the unhoused population. One of the next meetings will be taking place on September 5th at 6 p.m. at the Dumb Friend's League.
