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Coffman: Aurora and Denver have vastly different approaches to homelessness — work first and housing first

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Coffman: Aurora and Denver have vastly different approaches to homelessness — work first and housing first


Homelessness and its effects have become some of the most critical issues of our time across Colorado and much of the nation. After all my years in American government, I have learned that tough challenges like these require innovative thought, persistence, and the need for proven, long-term solutions.

While the efforts to tackle these issues in the city and county of Denver tend to dominate headlines, I believe it is important to highlight and clarify the work we are doing in Aurora and provide a reminder that Aurora’s approach is distinctly different from Denver’s approach.

The first part of Aurora’s new strategy involves the purchase and renovation of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Convention Center near Chambers Road and Interstate 70 in Aurora which, when renovated and updated, will serve as a regional navigation and resource center to help individuals experiencing homelessness.

The money necessary for this project was made possible by the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the president during the height of the pandemic in 2021.

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The city of Aurora used some of its own federal ARPA dollars and received additional ARPA funds from the state of Colorado, Douglas County, Arapahoe County and Adams County to buy and renovate the facility in exchange for agreeing to take care of many of those experiencing homelessness from the entire Denver metro area.

The program component of the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus is being brought forward by Mayor Pro Tem Dustin Zvonek. His proposal will convert the facility into three distinct tiers culminating in a “work first” approach. In the third tier, the 255 soon-to-be former hotel rooms will only be available to individuals who are participating in a work training program, who have completed their work training and are actively looking for employment, or who are working but still in need of some services.

This contrasts with Denver’s “Housing First” strategy that simply gives hotel rooms or apartments to individuals experiencing homelessness with absolutely no requirements other than the belief that once they have stable housing, they will be inclined to voluntarily change their behavior and take advantage of the services offered to them.

We believe that the “work first” approach is both fair to the taxpayers, who get up every morning to go to work and who share in the adult responsibilities of life, and ultimately compassionate to those experiencing homelessness.

Unsheltered homelessness is less a crisis of housing affordability and more a crisis of addiction and mental illness. The city of Aurora has outreach teams that connect people who live on the streets week after week with offers of safe places to stay and the services necessary to help them get back on their feet, but they rarely take us up on them. Even when their encampments are being abated, many will still refuse help. If given the choice, they will choose to remain on the streets.

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To help them, we must remove that choice. Our current camping ban merely states that once an encampment receives a 72-hour notice it will be abated and that so long as the individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness agree to move, there will be no penalties for having violated our camping ban.

A new camping ban ordinance is being proposed by Council Member Steve Sundberg that will dramatically change the enforcement of our existing ban. Its focus will be the I-225 corridor in Aurora, the center of gravity for much of our homeless population, but it is written to expand, as necessary, to other parts of our city. Instead of a 72-hour notice, there will be no notice, and violators will be ticketed and given a court date for a trespassing offense. Failure to appear will cause a warrant to be issued for their arrest.

A companion proposal, by Council Member Curtis Gardner, will create a specialized “problem solving court” for individuals experiencing homelessness who have committed low-level offenses such as trespassing. The goal is not to punish them but to get them the treatment they need to stay off the streets. The new court will be called the H.E.A.R.T. (Housing, Employment, Assistance, Recovery, Teamwork) Court where homeless offenders will be given the opportunity to commit to a yearlong probation with agreed-upon requirements such as participating in addiction recovery, mental health care and job training to help them get on a path to being sober, employed and staying housed. If they meet all the requirements of their probation, their charges will be dropped.

Right now, Denver’s “Housing First” approach is the only one recognized by the federal government, while Aurora’s “work first” one is not. Having two cities, side by side, could be the test case that our nation needs to determine the legitimacy of both approaches.

Mike Coffman is the mayor of Aurora.

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Denver, CO

Dangerous heat to start the week in Denver

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Dangerous heat to start the week in Denver


Dangerous heat to start the week in Denver – CBS Colorado

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Colorado weather: 90-degree heat returns to Denver, afternoon thunderstorms over the plains

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Colorado weather: 90-degree heat returns to Denver, afternoon thunderstorms over the plains


After two days of heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds, a prolonged heat wave is set to hit Colorado on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

“Heat incoming! Prolonged period of above-normal temps expected through next week,” the weather service wrote Saturday in a social media post.

Temperatures are expected to spike into the upper 90s in the metro area, Interstate 25 corridor and Eastern Plains, NWS forecasters said. The plains will see 100-degree weather on Sunday and Monday.

While temperatures in the Denver area likely won’t hit 100 degrees this week, it might come close, forecasters said. The city will see a high of 91 degrees Saturday before the heat jumps into the upper 90s Sunday and Monday, topping out around 97 degrees.

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Overnight Saturday, temperatures will cool to a low of 62 degrees, NWS forecasters said.

Despite the potential for afternoon rain showers and thunderstorms entering the picture for the Denver area Tuesday, a below-90-degree day is not on the forecast, according to NWS.

The Denver area can expect a hot, dry weekend, but thunderstorms will hit the Eastern Plains Saturday afternoon and eveningNWS forecasters said. The storms will produce wind gusts of up to 45 mph, but forecasters don’t expect hail or tornado touchdowns.

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Ask Amy: Gender transition highlights host’s rudeness

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Ask Amy: Gender transition highlights host’s rudeness


Dear Readers: The following Q&A first ran in 2020.

Dear Amy: A couple of years ago, an acquaintance of ours hosted a dinner party. I was only acquainted with half the people there. The hostess didn’t make introductions.

One person present was someone I had met a few times. (I’ll call her “Jane.”)

I knew that Jane had a partner, “Joan,” whom I had only met once years before.

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At the dinner, Jane was sitting next to a man.

At one point I stared across the table because I was trying to determine if this was Jane’s brother, or if Joan was transitioning to male.

I admit that I feel bad for staring, but I was trying to figure out if we had met.

We spoke briefly afterward, and they made no attempt to reintroduce themselves to me.

After they left, the hostess explained that Joan was now “John” and how they hate to have to explain themselves or their pronoun, which is “they.”

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I tried to joke: “I didn’t get the memo.” To which the hostess replied, “It wasn’t my memo to send.”

I think the hostess could have spared some social awkwardness with one quick sentence privately, like “Joan is John now, deal with it,” which would have been fine with me.

I am still angry with the hostess for leaving us floundering as to who was at the party. What do you think?

— Befuddled Guest

Dear Befuddled: Let us for a moment go back to nursery school. Have you ever noticed that when children don’t know other kids’ names, they don’t talk to them?

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Names: We have them for a reason.

Now let’s talk about this hostess. Who invites a bunch of previously unacquainted (or semi-acquainted) people to their home and then doesn’t introduce (or re-introduce) them to each other at the beginning of the evening? I mean, if you’re going to make a cassoulet, you can certainly make an introduction.

Now onto you. In the absence of hostess-courtesy, why didn’t you introduce yourself to people? “Hi, I’m Befuddled Guest. But please, you can call me Befuddled. Tell me your name?” If the person answers by saying, “We’ve met before” (I get this a lot), you can say — as I always do — “Oh, I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten that. Remind me of your name?”

I agree that it is not the hostess’s job to deliver the memo about a guest’s gender transition in advance of the party. It IS the hostess’s job to introduce her guests to one another.

If you know someone’s name, you don’t have to ponder or puzzle over their gender. Granted, “John” is likely a male. “Courtney” might be a man or a woman. But gender identity doesn’t matter, because when you know someone’s name, you can just address them by their name, see them as fellow humans, and take it from there.

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Dear Amy: I wanted to respond to the recent letter from “Befuddled,” in which a husband laments the estrangement between his wife and her sister. Your advice was beautifully written.

As an RN of some 45 years, I have seen the awfulness of unresolved estrangements, which can be decades long.

I could recount way too many situations, during end-of-life discussions in which it was appropriate to discontinue life support.

But if a family member is estranged from a loved one, once the person dies, so too does any hope of reconciliation.

It is these very people who often struggle with what’s called “complex grief.”

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So many times, we nurses would hear stories that break your heart: Each person was longing for the other one to make that first phone call, and apologize.

Of course, many times no one could even recall what exactly was said so many years ago that led to such a fracture between loved ones.

Life is short. Regrets can tear us up.

— Nursing Some Hurts

Dear Nursing: Estrangement seems to be a particularly heartbreaking trend (at least in the questions sent to me). Your perspective is so valuable. Thank you for offering it. I hope your words inspire people to reconsider their relationships and seek ways to reconcile, if possible.

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Dear Amy: “Passively Helpful Guy” seems to think that if he offers to help people, he’ll be trapped in an endless loop of offering assistance.

I suggest he try it, just once.

Yes, we should all learn to ask for help — and also learn how to offer it.

— Faithful Reader

Dear Faithful: Exactly. Thank you.

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(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)

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