The real reason for the growing homeless population in Denver and the front range.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Denver isn't like this. It is the WHOLE CITY and all of its suburbs.

Yep, the rent here is really consistent in all areas. Downtown you're looking at $1,500 per month for a decent studio or $1,700 for a one bedroom. You can find the same in the burbs for a couple hundred less.

Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981

I am shocked nobody blamed the homeless situation on the legalizing of weed.. but anyhow they have homeless everywhere in every city i visited because its hard to get a place to stay when a lot of jobs only pay 10 dollars an hour, I have known college graduates and educated people that had jobs that were homeless for a short period of time, a lot of cities the apartments won't lease to you unless you have good credit and nobody wants to be stuck in a crappy apartment in a high crime area.

Didn't want to disappoint you so here you go!

Legal pot blamed for some of influx of homeless in Denver this summer - The Denver Post

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/24...ss-population/

There are more homeless here than I've ever seen in my life and I've traveled a good bit. It's really turned me off from what I otherwise thought was a really cool city. It's so bad that I've decided to not hang around once my contract expires in June.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

There are more homeless here than I've ever seen in my life and I've traveled a good bit. It's really turned me off from what I otherwise thought was a really cool city. It's so bad that I've decided to not hang around once my contract expires in June.

I think what you're seeing is that our homeless population is very concentrated in a few areas of downtown and not hidden. If you think our homeless problem is anywhere close to many other cities, you're missing the fact that you see the homeless population in Denver because we have not stashed them in neighborhoods that you wouldn't visit like so many other cities do.

And I have to say, walking the Gas Lamp in San Diego I was harassed by far more homeless than I ever have been in downtown Denver. San Francisco is on a whole other level.

[headingtoDenver]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

I think what you're seeing is that our homeless population is very concentrated in a few areas of downtown and not hidden. If you think our homeless problem is anywhere close to many other cities, you're missing the fact that you see the homeless population in Denver because we have not stashed them in neighborhoods that you wouldn't visit like so many other cities do.

And I have to say, walking the Gas Lamp in San Diego I was harassed by far more homeless than I ever have been in downtown Denver. San Francisco is on a whole other level.

Also, I wonder if the people you are seeing truly aren't homeless. A lot of people you see on 16th street mall asking for change and such, I highly doubt are actually homeless.

[Lost Roses]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Yep, the rent here is really consistent in all areas. Downtown you're looking at $1,500 per month for a decent studio or $1,700 for a one bedroom. You can find the same in the burbs for a couple hundred less.





Didn't want to disappoint you so here you go!

Legal pot blamed for some of influx of homeless in Denver this summer - The Denver Post

Denver shelters say legal pot responsible for rise in city's homeless population | Fox News

There are more homeless here than I've ever seen in my life and I've traveled a good bit. It's really turned me off from what I otherwise thought was a really cool city. It's so bad that I've decided to not hang around once my contract expires in June.

So you're living downtown? I thought you were out in Lone Tree where you will never see a homeless person.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by Lost Roses

So you're living downtown? I thought you were out in Lone Tree where you will never see a homeless person.

I was originally staying in Lone tree while my family was in town, but I work in several places in and around DTC and Downtown. Our main office is downtown. I'm currently staying in the DTC area, but looking for an apartment downtown to minimize my commute. It amazes how many really nice apartment complexes there are downtown that are surrounded by droves of homeless people wandering aimlessly.

[smarino]

Homeless people go where there's facilities that will help them out. Having been homeless a few times myself, that's the deal. We're in Florida now (and in a small mobile home that we own, but it wasn't always like this), and it's a police state. Who wants to be hassled all the time no matter how nice the weather is? A lot of the reason for the growing number of homeless in this country, not just in Denver, is the economy. There are jobs, sure, but do you know what they pay w/o skills? My wife works in the schools as an EA w/ SPED kids and gets paid the princely sum of $8.35 an hour. Her benefits are a joke, as is her insurance (essentially none). W/o my income, I don't know what would happen to her.

There's so many misconceptions on this thread, I don't know where to start. Homeless people don't mill about. They don't have any money, they have no place to live, where are they supposed to go? The shelters kick them out at the crack of dawn, and from then to the time they are allowed back in to sleep, it's an endless moving around. Stand in a line to eat, stand in a line for services, if any. Stand in a line to get a shelter bed, if any. In between standing in lines, you will ruin your feet and legs because w/o money you have to walk on concrete everywhere, and services are almost always spread out so much it's ridiculous. People tend to gather together because it's safe. Homeless people are attacked, you know? A lot of people think the homeless are just a bunch of shiftless bums. Let me tell you, being homeless is a lot of work! All that standing in lines, walking, worrying, getting by w/ lousy food in shelters that are dangerous and where you can't get any sleep, no place to safely keep anything so you have to schlep it around on your back, the cops, the hateful looks from people, no place to wash your clothes, etc. Does anyone think that someone WANTS to live like that? People do it because they have no other options. None.

I wonder why Denver has a lot of homeless too. It must be because there's a certain amount of compassionate people that will try to help them, and because there's facilities. Who would want to be homeless in Colorado otherwise? It's real, real cold during a lot of the year, especially in the early morning hours. The weed thing is NOT an issue. Every major (or not so major) American city has open air spaces where you can buy weed, and at prices that are probably cheaper than Denver's legal stuff. Of course, in Denver, you're a customer. In other areas, you're a criminal. So that plays into it a little. Jeez Marie, all you need are a few seeds anyway, and you will never have to buy it again for the rest of your life. It's a weed! I don't get any of that business. Why pay a ton of money for that? Just grow it. Hawaii and other places have laws that allow people w/ medical cards to just grow their own.

By the by, there are as many reasons why someone would be homeless as there are homeless people. Besides the usual reasons of mental illness and substance abuse (hard drugs and alcohol, not pot), there's the lack of GOOD jobs, and a government that allows people to come in from other countries illegally and work and get services, all w/o documentation. You try that sometime in another country. Their stuff is for their citizens. There are legal ways to immigrate. But you know what? The Republicans, who are always screaming about illegal immigrants, don't really want them gone. Who's gonna mow their yards for cheap? Or clean their homes? We should all go to youtube and listen to Tom Russell's song "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall" on that one. The man nailed it. When the economy crashed (thanks Bush), it threw away a lot of jobs in the housing market that are never, ever, going to come back. A lot of those jobless people are 55 and over. Health insurance w/ the Obama Care program? Nope. If you're in a red state that did not sign up for it, and you are poor and make less than around $12,000 a year (each state has different income cutoffs), there is no health insurance for you because it just went from around $40 a month to over $400. I kid you not. Has anyone here tried to get a job when you're 55+? Ha! Oh, if you're highly skilled you might be OK, but most people are not even considered for a job. So, they've exhausted all their savings, they're not old enough for social security, and at that age you need some health services, or you are going to go downhill fast. Now what do they do? They end up homeless, many of them, and try to apply for disability. But there's so many people trying to get it that the wait time is 2 to 5 years. This is not off the top of my head. Unless you're at death's door like my neighbor. It took her 6 months. This is very, very rare. She only gets a small check, and no Medicare for TWO YEARS. And she is very sick w/ cancer, so she'll be dead by then. Social security will tell you that it takes forever to get SSD. The process is terrible. It's totally designed to discourage and stall people so much, and for so long, that they just give up. SSD, is not an "entitlement" program either. It's an Earned Income Program. If you haven't paid into it enough, you don't get it. Those monies are your monies that are taken out of your pay, and the amount you get is exactly the same as Social Security because that's just what it is. Some people get a big check, some people get a little one. When (if) you turn 65, it rolls over into Social Security, but the amount remains the same.


So why are the homeless coming to Denver? These are just a few of the reasons. To really find out, it's easy. Go and ask someone that's homeless. There's a ton of other reasons I'm sure, and getting the information is not difficult. We live in a world of cause and effect.

[SkyDog77]

Great perspective. Thanks.