Fear has reached its tipping point for a former case manager at one of Denver’s homeless shelters.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said. “And I’ve worked in low-income facilities.”

The former case manager shared her experience anonymously with CBS Colorado days after issuing her resignation letter on Nov. 11. She was working for nearly a year at the Tamarac Family Shelter (formerly an Embassy Suites) at 7525 E Hampden Avenue, which is a city shelter run by the Salvation Army.

Her letter of resignation details a lot of the issues and concerns she experienced throughout her time working there.

“When we first got there, the housekeeping was there, and we had housekeeping because of the contract with Embassy Suites wasn’t over,” she said.

However, she says management eventually let housekeeping go, and the facility started to get worse.

“The condition of the building, its falling apart. We have leaks in the ceiling. We have bed bugs in the room. We have roaches,” she said. “The bathrooms are disgusting.”

The former employee shared a collection of photos she says were taken at the shelter. Photos showed dead rats outside the property, trash throughout the shelter and damaged ceilings.

“Just because they came from being homeless, doesn’t mean they need to be treated that way,” she said.

What was even more concerning to her and the clients she worked with was how much they feared for their safety within the facility.

“We’ve been experiencing a lot of domestic violence and there’s a lot of people that threaten us and say, ‘Well, we’re going to do things to your car,’” she said. “We had an individual that her husband kept her in a room and was beating her up and she had from head-to-toe bruises.”

She says despite having some security guards outside the facility, abuses or unauthorized people would still slip through the cracks.

“When the clients will say, I would rather be in the streets than be in here because it’s safer out there than it is in here,” the employee said.  

This case manager says she has also spoken up about getting more security added to the facility, including a security door. However, she says the facility’s management team did not address these concerns.

“It’s not in the funding; we can’t do it. We don’t have enough money to do security doors,” she said.

Last week, when CBS Colorado first asked the Salvation Army about these concerns, it issued this statement, “One of the things that’s good about having a working relationship with the City of Denver is that they have high expectations for the safety and cleanliness of our programs. The Salvation Army could not operate the Tamarac location if these allegations were true. The safety of our guests is our highest concern. That’s why we’re here – housing families with children, providing three meals a day and connecting our guests with the services that will strengthen their abilities to thrive on their own. Furthermore, HOST or City of Denver employees are on site most days of the workweek every week. The bottom line is the city would shut us down if we didn’t hold to their high standards of safety.”  

This week, however, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army says it’s enlisted independent legal counsel to investigate these concerns. “While the investigation is underway, we will be unable to comment.”

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Housing Stability released a statement saying the former employee’s claims are largely untrue,” “Department of Housing Stability staff are regularly on-site at the Tamarac Family Shelter, working alongside staff members from The Salvation Army to ensure a safe, welcoming and stabilizing environment for families in crisis.”

These allegations come just as the city auditor released its findings of Denver’s homeless shelter program. The report reveals homeless funding is not being tracked, and safety concerns are not being addressed among other issues. The safety concerns are particularly connected to another shelter run by the Salvation Army on Quebec Street, the Aspen Shelter (formerly a Doubletree Hotel).

“The [homeless] should have a safe haven like they say it is. They should be able to stay there and not worry about their abuses coming in,” the former case manager said.

The report finds that Housing Stability has “ineffective systems for monitoring shelter provider performance,” and that in the case of the former Doubletree location, the city provided a security budget of $807,000 but had not hired a contractor to manage security at the property for several months. It is also the location where two people were shot and killed in March 2024, and a third person was shot and injured weeks later.

The audit also found concerns with Housing Stability’s managing of finances for shelter properties and personal information, “Housing Stability failed to hold providers accountable for their use of city funds. The department received 55% of reviewed invoices past deadline. We found sensitive confidential data was left unprotected in a shared drive that staff in other city agencies could access. Housing Stability stored documents such as birth certificate orders containing contact information and family information of shelter guests. Not protecting confidential information by restricting drive access creates a data security risk.”

“Housing Stability’s poor organization is negatively affecting operations at Denver’s shelters,” said Timothy M. O’Brien, Denver’s auditor. “These issues need to be addressed because vulnerable populations are at risk.”

A spokesperson for the city says the auditor’s report is not an accurate representation of the current state of the city’s shelter system, “Denver’s All in Mile High program has transformed the city’s homelessness resolution system, resulting in the largest decrease in street homelessness on record and positive outcomes both for those experiencing homelessness and the city as a whole. The Auditor’s report on Denver’s shelter system references data and information from more than eight months ago, and is not an accurate representation of the current state of our shelter system. We continue to constantly improve our programs, which is why although we acknowledge the auditor’s findings, it’s important to note that HOST and the City have long been working to improve the system throughout 2024.”

As for the former case manager, she hopes any new information and investigation into concerns at the shelter she worked at and others can help make these facilities better for anyone who works or lives inside them.

“More security for our residents,” she said. “That its clean, and that it’s not falling apart.”