At-large city council candidates speak with unhoused community in outdoor forum

Photo by Harriet Falconetti

Unhoused rights groups host forum on unhoused issues in front of City Hall on October 19, hear questions from people currently experiencing homelessness

By Harriet Falconetti

Advocates for Denver’s unhoused community hosted a forum in front of City Hall on Monday to discuss issues related to homelessness with candidates for City Council’s now vacant at-large seat.

All candidates from the ten-person race — with the exception of Alfredo Reyes, who was sick, according to event organizers — attended the forum, which was hosted by homelessness advocate organizations Mutual Aid Monday and Housekeys Action Network Denver. Organizers and community members asked candidates about topics including Mayor Mike Johnston’s ‘All In’ initiative, shelter capacity and Denver’s camping ban. Members of the unhoused community and their allies were also given the opportunity to directly ask candidates their own questions.

“As the unhoused community, it’s important for us to have a say in what’s happening in the city, especially with elections,” Jess Wiederholdt, an organizer with Mutual Aid Monday, told Denver VOICE. “Denver City Council makes very important decisions that affect the unhoused community, so we want to make sure that we’re getting them registered to vote, we want to make sure they know what the issues are that are affecting them and that they’re able to vote with knowledge.”

All candidates in attendance agreed: the city of Denver, and more specifically Mayor Mike Johnston, were not doing enough to address the needs of the homeless community. In response to a question from event organizers about a proposed shelter for the Globeville Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, candidates Jake Browne and Gabriel Konkle said they would prioritize rent assistance over shelter should they be elected, citing a need for permanent housing rather than temporary shelter. Browne and Konkle did not go into detail on how they planned to accomplish this.

Other candidates, such as Melissa Mejía and Whitney Traylor, criticized the city for overburdening neighborhoods like Globeville Elyria-Swansea with multiple shelters while other neighborhoods have none.

Another prominent topic of the event was the city budget, which all candidates agreed was improperly balanced in one way or another. Raymon Anthony Doane suggested that the city hires too many people in general, proposing reducing the overall administrative workforce to provide higher wages for city employees. Monica Martinez proposed reducing city contracts with third parties — such as Excel or construction companies — to expand “in house” city services including rental assistance and eviction prevention. 

Konkle proposed the most sweeping budget reform, suggesting redirecting some of the Denver Police Department’s money towards the Support Team Assisted Response program and slashing Denver’s $25 million budget for grass maintenance.

Despite the wide slate of candidates, some unhoused community members felt that none were promising quite what they were looking for. One such community member, Rashaad Riley, took the mic to pose this question to candidates: if all shelters are at capacity and camping is illegal everywhere in Denver, where are homeless people supposed to sleep?

Candidates Melissa Mejía and Whitney Traylor admitted that they don’t have a direct answer to that question on a case-by-case basis, but agreed that the camping ban should be ended.

“If there are no beds, there should be no sweeps,” said Traylor.

While Riley agreed it was a tough question, he still felt dissatisfied with the slate of candidates he had seen.

“I don’t need a lot,” said Riley. “A place to not have to bear nature would be really good. But I don’t have that type of hope. We’re not that utilitarian in America.”

According to Riley, a good starting point for the homelessness crisis is to declare housing a human right and to cap the rent that landlords can charge.

Voting is still open for Denver’s at-large city council election and will conclude on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Information on voter registration and polling locations can be found on denvergov.org.