Denver's Deep Freeze Just Another Day for Homeless

Denver -- For some men and women here, hell can be a very cold place. Extremely low temperatures and a lack of commonsense thinking by political leaders and the community has brought activists to point out the insanity of the state's "emergency preparedness:" leaving out a very vulnerable population during a surprise sub-zero weather emergency.

In the world of the homeless, a deep freeze is still "business as usual" at many shelters and other resources, with quotas and "sorry, no room."

Programs and solutions to the "homeless problem" often miss the other key to regaining hope, skills, and shelter: a community willing to welcome them back to mainstream life.

The lack of adequate shelter space for the current population of homeless single women is in the news, with the Denver Post noting that some women were having to fend for themselves on the street. This is a somewhat new problem, as the population of homeless women and children has risen sharply in the last two decades.

Metro Denver communities without shelters are using up precious resources paying for nightly motel space and other stop-gap solutions, especially for women. If the winter continues this unusually cold beginning, these resources will quickly run out.

Staying awake all night on buses, in 24-hour Wal-Marts and other stores, trying to sleep unnoticed in a stairwell or finding a cardboard box and making the best of it are some of options these women have reportedly used. One in the Post's article was considering arrest for a minor crime just to get out of the cold.

In the Post, activist Bray Patrick-Lake is quoted revealing the hypocrisy: "When there's a disaster, buildings miraculously open. But not for the homeless." FEMA and the CDC, government agencies tasked with disaster management, both provide information on handling extreme cold weather emergencies for those with homes.

Downtown today as the sun rose without warmth, homeless men and women were selling the Denver Voice newspaper, which provides a self-help income to them while it connects readers with a world few of them can understand.

Talking with one of the vendors at Curtis Street on the Sixteenth Street Mall, I reflected on how many people I had met from many backgrounds who had near misses with homelessness themselves for economic or medical reasons or "simple twists of fate."

The vendor's friends in the shelters crossed the line and slipped into homelessness, but were also a wide variety of people. Most were reaching out to find hope and a way out, although some did not and maintained a survival lifestyle. Even beyond the -30 degrees F wind chill downtown, the disasters many had encountered were as random as any hurricane, tornado or earthquake.

Denver has a goal of eliminating homelessness in ten years, "Denver's Road Home." The answer so far is missing a key point: inclusion. Homeless are a "problem" in that they represent a specter of disaster that anyone can face. As neighbors complain about churches operating as shelters and organizations such as the Red Cross quoted by the Post as declining to provide housing assistance except in a "disaster", activists are noting that homeless families and individuals are "out in the cold" because they are no longer being considered a part of the community that, in many cases, they once called home.

"Winter Weather: Hypothermia", http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/staysafe/hypothermia.asp

"Before Winter Storms and Extreme Cold", http://www.fema.gov/hazard/winter/wi_before.shtm

"Shortage of temporary shelters leaves homeless out in the cold", Mike McPhee, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13956001

"Shelter space sparse for solo homeless women in Denver", Colleen O'Connor, http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13956554