Connect with us

Denver, CO

Denver’s homeless population continues to grow despite more spending

Published

on

Denver’s homeless population continues to grow despite more spending


DENVER — Keith Barhams has an intimate data of Denver’s streets. He’s spent the previous 11 years residing exterior after a divorce left him homeless.

Right now, he walks with a limp after he was hit by a automobile final 12 months at 14th Avenue and Federal Boulevard. On most days, he doesn’t know the place his meal will come from or when he’ll get to take a bathe.

He’s not capable of keep at a lot of the shelters across the Denver space. And he says that even when he may get into housing, the lease costs are so excessive that he couldn’t afford to eat.

“How are you speculated to dwell?” he mentioned.

Advertisement

Barhams’ story isn’t a singular one as Denver’s unhoused inhabitants continues to develop, regardless of a stark improve within the metropolis’s housing and homeless finances since 2019, in line with knowledge obtained and analyzed by Denver7 Investigates.

Some extent-in-time survey that captures a one-night snapshot of homeless in cities performed in January 2022 counted 4,794 individuals residing on Denver’s streets. That represents a 44% improve over the identical survey’s outcomes 5 years earlier.

“The issue that we’re addressing is worse,” mentioned Benjamin Dunning, historian for Denver Homeless Out Loud, a nonprofit advocacy group.

In 2022, Denver budgeted $152,306,150 for housing and homelessness. That quantity grew to $180,948,669 for 2023, a 19% improve. In 2019, that finances was solely $73,159,330, lower than half what was budgeted final 12 months.

Dunning mentioned that cash is making a distinction, however there’s nonetheless an extended technique to go.

Advertisement

“We’re placing a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} right into a billion-dollar drawback that’s rising,” he mentioned. “Denver is spending what they’ll, nevertheless it isn’t sufficient.”

On the root of the homeless problem is housing, Dunning says, and he believes that each greenback not spent on housing or retaining individuals housed is misappropriated.

Figures from town’s Division of Housing Stability present 53% of town’s 2023 finances goes to deal with reasonably priced housing. Roughly 41% will fund shelters and providers whereas the rest pays for administrative prices. That 53% towards housing does signify an uptick over earlier years.

“One of many main issues that almost all cities do is that they attempt to disguise the homeless somewhat than home the homeless,” Dunning mentioned, referring to shelters.

Britta Fisher, till not too long ago the chief director of Denver’s Division of Housing Stability, says she believes Denver nonetheless must spend money on each shelters and housing.

Advertisement

“I feel the aim of shelters is to offer a humane response to people who find themselves in a housing disaster,” she mentioned. “I don’t see it as hiding.”

When she spoke with Denver7 Investigates, Fisher was nonetheless Denver’s chief housing officer. She has since left the place to grow to be CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.

Throughout an interview with Denver7 Investigates, Fisher mentioned balancing the cash between housing and shelters is among the division’s biggest struggles.

Different cities, akin to Houston, have dedicated to extra finances {dollars} for data-based, housing-first approaches with some success. In Houston, town has moved greater than 25,000 unhoused instantly into flats and housing. Since 2011, its point-in-time survey rely of unhoused people has dropped by 63%.

Fisher says defunding shelters in Denver isn’t as sensible due to the chilly winters.

Advertisement

“I don’t assume it’s acceptable for us to say it’s OK for individuals to be dying exterior. And I don’t assume the individuals of Denver discover that OK,” she mentioned.

Nonetheless, she does imagine town can do higher within the coming years and may just about finish homelessness.

“I imagine we are able to. I do know we are able to as a result of we’ve seen it occur in different communities,” she mentioned. “I feel Denver might be poised to be one of many giant cities to get that useful zero the place we see as many individuals coming into housing crises as we see individuals served by housing.”





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Denver, CO

Denver Nuggets Reportedly Sign New Player

Published

on

Denver Nuggets Reportedly Sign New Player


In between the NBA Draft and the start of free agency there is a period of time when teams agree to deals with un-drafted free agents. While these deals can be signed at any time, it is most common to see them agreed upon soon after the draft, as teams bring in players they want to get a look at.

This can be done via Exhibit-10 deals, which bring in a player for training camp to potentially compete for a roster spot. In a report on Friday from Shams Charania of The Athletic, it was announced that the Denver Nuggets had signed Grand Canyon University’s Gabe McGlothan to an Exhibit-10 contract.

In five collegiate seasons, McGlothan averaged 12.8 PPG and 7.3 RPG. Showing an improved three-point shot in his final season at Grand Canyon, McGlothan made 39.8% of his threes on 3.6 attempts per game. While it is very unlikely McGlothan makes Denver’s roster, this should be a great opportunity for him to be around NBA champions while training with one of the league’s elite franchises.

Advertisement

It is not entirely impossible for Exhibit-10 deals to lead to two-way contracts or even standard deals in some cases, but the Nuggets are not a team that projects to be filling out their roster with many unproven rookies. That said, McGlothan will get to work with Nikola Jokic and other Nuggets veterans in camp, which is a great opportunity.

Denver Nuggets Star Reacts to Nikola Jokic’s Brother Punching Fan

Carmelo Anthony Reacts to Team USA’s Controversial Caitlin Clark Decision

Nikola Jokic’s Former Teammate Makes Massive Luka Doncic Statement





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Denver, CO

Video of Colorado Springs police shooting shows suspect hitting woman with gun

Published

on

Video of Colorado Springs police shooting shows suspect hitting woman with gun


The man shot by Colorado Springs police officers while fleeing on foot earlier this month struck a woman across the face with a gun in the city’s downtown area before pointing it at another man, security footage released Thursday shows.

Around 12:48 a.m. on Sunday, June 9, three officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Downtown Area Response Team were patrolling on foot along South Nevada Avenue when they heard a disturbance up the street, according to a video briefing released Thursday by the department.

As one officer — identified by the Colorado Springs Police Department as Benjamin Hengel — moved toward the disturbance, he saw a woman fall to the ground and drew his stun gun, police department spokesperson Joe Frabbiele said in the video.

Another man chasing the suspect suddenly stopped and put his hands up, Frabbiele said. When Hengel went to move around the man, Hengel saw the suspect pointing a gun in his direction and drew his department-issued handgun.

Advertisement

Security footage from a nearby building before the shooting shows the suspect — 21-year-old Al’Morion Germany — backing away from a woman while the two have what appears to be a verbal disagreement.

In the video, Germany points what appears to be a gun at the woman before striking her across the face with it, knocking her to the ground.

Germany turns to run and is quickly followed by three Colorado Springs police officers, including Hengel, security footage shows.

Footage from Hengel’s body camera shows officers yelling at Germany to drop the gun, following him down South Nevada Street and continuing the chase around the corner onto Pikes Peak Avenue when Germany ignored police commands to stop.

Frabbiele said Germany was running toward a parking lot the officers knew usually had a lot of foot traffic at that time of night.

Advertisement

When Hengel turned the corner, he fired three shots at Germany, striking the man twice, body camera footage shows. The man continued to run after being shot and was taken into custody in the 100 block of East Pikes Peak Avenue.

Officers provided medical aid until paramedics arrived and Germany was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Frabbiele said.

Frabbiele said a loaded 10 mm Glock handgun was found near where Germany was shot, but did not confirm the gun belonged to Germany. The 21-year-old was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting and will determine if Hengel’s use of force was justified.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Denver, CO

Long Live the King – The Denver Nuggets and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope come to a crossroads – DNVR Sports

Published

on

Long Live the King – The Denver Nuggets and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope come to a crossroads – DNVR Sports


“The King is dead. Long live the King!”
– first proclaimed in 1422, as Britain’s Charles VII succeeded Charles VI

I remember the moment the Denver Broncos won their first Super Bowl. Colorado’s first major championship had barely preceded the Broncos big win, but to have the state’s sport darlings finally atop the heap and igniting their fanbase was a moment frozen in time in the memory of this Broncos fan.

At least I thought it would be frozen.

It was a scant two days after the Super Bowl victory that the local sports voices started questioning the Broncos chances for the following year, and weeks before the team started all of its offseason planning. A few months later, draftees and all rookies are starting to prep for the season, and training camp is right behind. The moment that was supposed to be frozen in my memory was a great one, but it had melted away into the next year with the speed of a snowman in St. Augustine. Wham-bam-thank-you-Shanahan, and all of a sudden we were right back to what have you done for me lately?

It was eye opening, to say the least. In retrospect, I’m not sure why I expected they would cease all NFL operations the moment the right team had finally won it all, but hey… no one said reality was my strong suit. Through my protestations, the league decided to keep making money.

Advertisement

Never was the speed and brevity of a Championship offseason more painful for one Colorado sports fan than the 114 days that went between the Denver Nuggets winning it all a year and a couple weeks ago and their early October Training Camp. A heady summer flew by, and just three and a half months later. my team that finally had their ring had to go back and try to do it all over again. It hardly seemed like enough time to savor it, especially missing faces that had been so crucial just a few months prior.

But yet another season rolls along, and for this brief moment in Nuggets history, it’s unsure that all five pieces of the Nuggets Championship starting five will be back next year. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has declined the player option year of his deal, and will deservedly take his two championship rings out to what sounds to be a hot market for his services. If that number climbs to a level too high for Denver to feel good about matching and still being able to compete with… well…

Nuggets GM Calvin Booth was actually pretty direct and clear on the subject, both praising KCP and lamenting the possibility, but also praising and setting forth the metrics behind last year’s sixth man Christian Braun. While all of what’s still to come here is out in the ether, Nuggets Nation is alight with opinions ranging from “all is lost” to “we’ll be fine”. But the memory of a KCP who said he wanted to be a “Nugget forever” in a postgame interview after one the last home games of last season would feel like a pretty sudden and huge vacuum in Nuggets space should he suddenly just be gone. One more piece of a memory that feels like it was just a few hundred days ago… right?

Avs fans feel that championship phantom limb, just one more year removed. Hell, even a Boston sports fan has to occasionally feel the pain of going without a championship… right? Yesterday was your ring, today is your parade, and tomorrow is right back to what have you done for me lately?

Knowing the wheel is spinning right back around, maybe you even take the moments to savor the journey when you got close, or even when you got a little bit further than the time before. One of these years, even the Rockies will hang a banner up at Coors Field, and a few months down the road, the Yankees and Dodgers will just be favorites all over again. If you’ve got a moment to savor in the mix, do it while you’ve got it. Whether KCP is back this next year or not, that clock is ticking, right alongside all the rest. The shooting guard is dead. Long live the shooting guard.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending