Denver sweeps homeless camps despite CDC advice to leave them during pandemic

Denver officials cleared a large homeless encampment downtown Thursday morning contrary to Centers for Disease Control guidelines for handling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The move comes as more than 200 people experiencing homelessness have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least two have died. It also puts Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration further at odds with the homeless community and advocates who say the so-called cleanup breaks a promise city officials made to leave encampments untouched during the pandemic.

City officials said clearing the public right of way was necessary to protect public health as the camps grow larger during the ongoing pandemic.

In all, employees of Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure cleared and cleaned about 12 city blocks from 20th to 23rd streets between Welton and Curtis streets. An estimated 95 tents lined those streets the day before with as many as 350 people living in them.

Some swore during the cleanup. Others cried. A few held banners saying “Housing not sweeps.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control does not recommend clearing encampments during the pandemic unless “individual housing units are available.”

“Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers,” the CDC says online. “This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”

Denver does not have enough individual rooms to house each of those that had been living in the encampment. According to daily status reports from city officials, Denver had about 151 individual rooms available Wednesday night. But many of them are reserved for those who are exhibiting symptoms or are recovering from the virus.

The CDC’s recommendations are not a mandate, said city spokesperson Nancy Kuhn.

“Common sense and balance must be considered when interpreting any guidance, and our priority is to protect public and environmental health in Denver,” she said.

That’s just an excuse, said Tristia Bauman, a senior attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Most of Denver’s general population remains under a stay-at-home order until May 8 and has minimal contact with the encampments, if any. Pushing people out of the encampments needlessly uproots their lives and places them further at risk of contracting the virus, she said.

Denver officials would be better served encouraging proper distancing within the encampments and providing dumpsters, showers and other cleaning facilities, she said.

“It’s disgusting that the city of Denver would use a public health justification for sweeping people either to other public spaces or into less safe congregate settings… when all of the public health guidance has recommended opposite actions,” Bauman said.

“This is a matter of life and death, there’s no time for political maneuvering or ignoring the best available science,” she added.

The end result is that those living in the encampments are scattered and either forced to move to a different street or to a group shelter.

Space is tight in Denver’s shelters. A recently opened shelter for men at the National Western Center’s Hall of Education added 600 beds but was overcrowded the first weekend it was open.

Vince Martinez said he won’t go to a shelter. He fears for his safety in shelters after being attacked in one, he said. Instead, Martinez said Wednesday, he’ll just move a few blocks away.

The cleanups force everyone in the encampments from the area. In the homeless community, and throughout much of the rest of town, they’re known as sweeps.

“They say if you don’t go we’ll … destroy everything you got,” Martinez said. “There ain’t nothing I can do about it. It’s rough. We just deal with it.”

As of Thursday, 203 people experiencing homelessness have tested positive for the virus and two have died, Kuhn confirmed.

Days before the cleanup, Terese Howard of Denver Homeless Out Loud emailed city officials and reminded them that they committed to letting the encampments stay during the city’s state of emergency.

City spokesperson Mike Strott confirmed that commitment.

“Unfortunately, since that time, we have seen certain encampments deteriorate substantially in public health and safety conditions,” Strott said.

In addition to disregarding the CDC’s guidance on homeless camps, Bauman said, the city is likely also falling short in its recommendation for shelters, such as that barriers be placed between sleeping spaces. Kuhn didn’t respond to a question about whether barriers have been installed, but there weren’t any when the shelter opened in mid-April.

Multiple cities across the country have disavowed the cleanups, Bauman noted. People in the encampments should be given the tools to keep the area and themselves clean, she said — otherwise the city is forcing them to places where they’re at higher risk of contracting the virus.

“Displacing them from where they are to go fend for themselves in some other location does not protect public health — in fact, it threatens public health,” Bauman said. “It’s not charity. These are important public health measures.”