I know I’m going to catch a lot of heat for this post, but just consider some of the points I make, from years of experiences living in Denver.
First, being homeless should not be criminalized. Period. However, the current way of granting the homeless communities more rights isn’t working either, at least in cities like Seattle and Denver. We need to find a different solution that seeks to achieve the same goals.
I’ve owned a home in Denver since 2018, and rented for four years before that. In between my house and the apartment complex next door is an alley. Garages, parking, and closest to me, the apartment’s covered carport strip.
A while back, Denver followed Seattle’s lead and passed laws that allow those without homes to set up camp almost wherever they want. Restricted in a few areas but not much. They also made other changes that I do agree with, such as a 24-hour public bathroom trailer downtown, opened more shelters, etc.
Now for my experiences, and I’ll keep it to things occurring since I’ve owned my home, things in my alley, things affecting my home, etc.
People are constantly camping out in the carports next door. They have set fires which have left smoke damage/stains on the walls of the property, and even cars. Sometimes these fires are for warmth, but often it’s people burning wiring they’ve jacked from somewhere to strip out the copper. They’ve even dismantled each of the outdoor electrical sockets to steal the wiring. Not all of them are like this. A lot of the campers are cool and used those outlets to charge their phones. I know many on a first name basis and have helped the non-problematic ones in numerous ways.
Plenty of times, someone will steal a bunch of packages from a nearby mailroom and sit there going through them all. They keep what they want, and just dump everyone else’s stuff in the dumpster and leave the alley a wreck with trash. Walls have been vandalized, repainted and vandalized again. Anything that’s not nailed down is stolen. We’ve had bikes, a grill, furniture, etc stolen.
People come home at night from a long shift at work, specifically a doctor who’s been exhausted due to the pandemic, and they have to sit in their cars for 20 minutes at 1am trying to get them to clear their spot so they can park.
A schizophrenic guy shoots meth and chugs alcohol and regularly storms up and down our alley shouting that this is his alley and he’ll kill anyone. Usually this is directed at no one, but residents have been threatened. Once we peered out the window to see what was going on, and he saw us. Since then, on multiple occasions, he stands outside our bedroom window and threatens and screams at us and our dog for about an hour without even a response.
We’ve called the cops about fires and threatening behavior a few times. Believe me, not on any and everyone. We aren’t like that. I’ve had charges before and am not one to involve police. Cops said they couldn’t do anything unless a No Trespassing sign was put up, but then they could. Until then, they have a right to camp on private property and set fires. They begrudgingly said due to the laws that were passed, their hands were tied. But to get a No Trespassing sign up and keep calling when it gets bad and they’ll try to run them off for the night.
So the apartment puts up No Trespassing signs, and they start calling on bad nights, and the cops still don’t do anything. They rarely even show up to run them off.
Last month, they finally arrested the screamer and his buddy after they chased down and stabbed a resident of the apartment that asked them to quiet down one night.
Tent cities and bike chop shops set up a block away. Every day, they sit around and shoot heroin all day, and at night they go out and steal bikes and other things. They ship the bikes off to sell in other cities. Dozens of bikes and parts are in clear view. The cops can’t do anything. This is literally organized crime.
Without me saying anything, I’ve been threatened and even followed while walking my dog at night.
I don’t know what the solution is. Homelessness should not be a crime. But theft and assaults and disorderly conduct ARE crimes that should be enforced. These laws have stripped cops’ abilities to even look into usually suspicious behavior because they no longer have probable cause.
Some homeless choose not to go to shelters because drugs aren’t allowed, or pets aren’t allowed, or they can’t be with their romantic partners. Regarding the addiction, if we’re going to allow open heroin use, what’s the big deal about it taking place in shelter areas? Maybe we allow animals or something. I don’t know.
Homelessness should not be criminalized. But allowing free reign to do whatever the hell you feel like, and not having to abide by the same laws as the rest of society isn’t the answer either. Tax-paying citizens, homeowners, people working hard to get by have lost their rights to being able to live in peace and without fear of becoming a victim of these crimes I mentioned.
Homeless people have more rights than we do in Denver, or at least it feels that way. If I got caught with some blow, I’d be arrested. But they can do whatever they want, because no one cares enough to stop them. It’s become a huge problem. There should be a better solution that is fair to all parties.
landsharkfin on June 30th, 2021 at 22:42 UTC »
Since I got out of the military I have been trying to figure out what freedom means for this reason.
Brisan7 on June 30th, 2021 at 23:50 UTC »
It's amazing how quickly you can go from having a decent paying job to homelessness because of how expensive this country makes it to be poor.
Luchadorable303 on July 1st, 2021 at 04:12 UTC »
I know I’m going to catch a lot of heat for this post, but just consider some of the points I make, from years of experiences living in Denver.
First, being homeless should not be criminalized. Period. However, the current way of granting the homeless communities more rights isn’t working either, at least in cities like Seattle and Denver. We need to find a different solution that seeks to achieve the same goals.
I’ve owned a home in Denver since 2018, and rented for four years before that. In between my house and the apartment complex next door is an alley. Garages, parking, and closest to me, the apartment’s covered carport strip.
A while back, Denver followed Seattle’s lead and passed laws that allow those without homes to set up camp almost wherever they want. Restricted in a few areas but not much. They also made other changes that I do agree with, such as a 24-hour public bathroom trailer downtown, opened more shelters, etc.
Now for my experiences, and I’ll keep it to things occurring since I’ve owned my home, things in my alley, things affecting my home, etc.
People are constantly camping out in the carports next door. They have set fires which have left smoke damage/stains on the walls of the property, and even cars. Sometimes these fires are for warmth, but often it’s people burning wiring they’ve jacked from somewhere to strip out the copper. They’ve even dismantled each of the outdoor electrical sockets to steal the wiring. Not all of them are like this. A lot of the campers are cool and used those outlets to charge their phones. I know many on a first name basis and have helped the non-problematic ones in numerous ways.
Plenty of times, someone will steal a bunch of packages from a nearby mailroom and sit there going through them all. They keep what they want, and just dump everyone else’s stuff in the dumpster and leave the alley a wreck with trash. Walls have been vandalized, repainted and vandalized again. Anything that’s not nailed down is stolen. We’ve had bikes, a grill, furniture, etc stolen.
People come home at night from a long shift at work, specifically a doctor who’s been exhausted due to the pandemic, and they have to sit in their cars for 20 minutes at 1am trying to get them to clear their spot so they can park.
A schizophrenic guy shoots meth and chugs alcohol and regularly storms up and down our alley shouting that this is his alley and he’ll kill anyone. Usually this is directed at no one, but residents have been threatened. Once we peered out the window to see what was going on, and he saw us. Since then, on multiple occasions, he stands outside our bedroom window and threatens and screams at us and our dog for about an hour without even a response.
We’ve called the cops about fires and threatening behavior a few times. Believe me, not on any and everyone. We aren’t like that. I’ve had charges before and am not one to involve police. Cops said they couldn’t do anything unless a No Trespassing sign was put up, but then they could. Until then, they have a right to camp on private property and set fires. They begrudgingly said due to the laws that were passed, their hands were tied. But to get a No Trespassing sign up and keep calling when it gets bad and they’ll try to run them off for the night.
So the apartment puts up No Trespassing signs, and they start calling on bad nights, and the cops still don’t do anything. They rarely even show up to run them off.
Last month, they finally arrested the screamer and his buddy after they chased down and stabbed a resident of the apartment that asked them to quiet down one night.
Tent cities and bike chop shops set up a block away. Every day, they sit around and shoot heroin all day, and at night they go out and steal bikes and other things. They ship the bikes off to sell in other cities. Dozens of bikes and parts are in clear view. The cops can’t do anything. This is literally organized crime.
Without me saying anything, I’ve been threatened and even followed while walking my dog at night.
I don’t know what the solution is. Homelessness should not be a crime. But theft and assaults and disorderly conduct ARE crimes that should be enforced. These laws have stripped cops’ abilities to even look into usually suspicious behavior because they no longer have probable cause.
Some homeless choose not to go to shelters because drugs aren’t allowed, or pets aren’t allowed, or they can’t be with their romantic partners. Regarding the addiction, if we’re going to allow open heroin use, what’s the big deal about it taking place in shelter areas? Maybe we allow animals or something. I don’t know.
Homelessness should not be criminalized. But allowing free reign to do whatever the hell you feel like, and not having to abide by the same laws as the rest of society isn’t the answer either. Tax-paying citizens, homeowners, people working hard to get by have lost their rights to being able to live in peace and without fear of becoming a victim of these crimes I mentioned.
Homeless people have more rights than we do in Denver, or at least it feels that way. If I got caught with some blow, I’d be arrested. But they can do whatever they want, because no one cares enough to stop them. It’s become a huge problem. There should be a better solution that is fair to all parties.
How do we fix this? Any ideas?