Meet Cole Chandler, Colorado’s new homelessness czar

Cole Chandler — the power behind tiny residence villages and secure outside tenting websites for unhoused folks in Denver — now oversees the state’s efforts to forestall homelessness.

Why it issues: Chandler’s newly carved out place as director of homeless initiatives for Colorado Division of Human Companies illustrates how homelessness has escalated from a Denver drawback to a statewide one.

Particulars: Chandler informed Axios Denver that certainly one of his first targets is guaranteeing 75% of the roughly 6,000-8,000 folks experiencing homelessness annually who’re on state cash-assistance applications get linked to housing help.

• Proper now, Chandler says the state does not have a baseline for what proportion of individuals find yourself linked with housing help as a result of the numbers go untracked.
• He additionally will coordinate between state and native companies, like these offering county-wide companies, to determine gaps.
• He mentioned he could be a “translator” between people who find themselves homeless and authorities officers — a relationship historically marked by stress.

What they’re saying: “I really feel like I am coming in with a cost … to essentially take motion steps and attempt to advance change, and that is one thing I am actually enthusiastic about,” Chandler informed Axios Denver.

Sure, however: The tiny residence villages and sanctioned campsites that Chandler is understood for have confronted some controversy.

Of word: Chandler is not working to carry sanctioned tenting places to a statewide program. As an alternative, the governor’s technique is to create extra reasonably priced housing and entry to well being companies.

• Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis, mentioned the governor additionally believes in “working with native communities on the enforcement of their legal guidelines.”