Dozens of unhoused people displaced in first homeless encampment sweep under Mayor Mike Johnston

DENVER — Dozens of unhoused people were displaced with nowhere to go as the first homeless encampment sweep under Mayor Mike Johnston began early Friday morning.

City crews began erecting metal fencing around a section of Stout and 22nd Streets in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood at around 7 a.m. Friday, as Denver7 crews observed several dead rats lying on the street.

Mayor Johnston on Wednesday said the sweep was necessary due to a rat infestation at the encampment, which he said posed a threat to public health. Previously, Johnston said his administration would only sweep encampments without offering housing if they posed a threat to public health, if they blocked a public right of way, or if the encampment infringed on private property.

Many of the people in the camp told Denver7 they don’t know where they’re going to go next.

“My home is being taken apart from me. You know, it’s kind of hard to be able to be supportive to your family and in a predicament like this,” said David, who lived at encampment for about two weeks. “So I think that as a city, one of the biggest things that we need to remember is that we’re not trying to give the homeless community freebies, we’re not trying to give them things. (We) gotta work hard for it to figure out, as a unit, where we can be safe together.”

Since a notice of the sweep was posted near the camp seven days ago, some of the unhoused people camping there left prior to crews arriving Friday. Others who were still there by 7 a.m. Friday said they were at a loss of where to go or what to do next.

While plans have been approved for the purchase and conversion of a Best Western Hotel in Central Park into permanent supportive housing, there were no housing units available for the people displaced during Friday’s sweep.

Denver7 saw the Department of Housing Stability (HOST), Mutual Aid Monday and House Keys Action Network of Denver (HAND) on site Friday morning to provide support for anyone in the encampment who wanted it.

Mutual Aid Monday said on its website the group provides coffee, hot cocoa, breakfast and needed supplies during sweeps.

“Housing is a human right and we should provide housing (for the unhoused),” said Angela Brown, who works with HAND. “Would you do this to your family? To your friend? This is just not right.”

During Wednesday’s news conference, Mayor Johnston said he would be directly involved in each decision on which homeless encampments to sweep.

The questions he said he’d ask himself would be:

• “How significant are the public health risks?”
• “How severe are the public safety risks?”
• “How significant are the impact on either public rights of way or on private property?”
• “Does the benefit of public health and safety outweigh the impact of dislocation on people who are at risk?”

Mayor Johnston set the goal of providing housing to 1,000 unhoused people by the end of 2023.

Less than a day after being sworn in, Johnston’s administration issued an emergency declaration in an effort to gain access to more resources and activate an emergency operations center.

Metal fencing installed Friday on Stout St. and 22nd St. as part of Mayor Mike Johnston’s first homeless sweep