DENVER — The city of Denver completed its latest sweep of a homeless encampment Thursday near the intersection of 4th Avenue and Lipan Street.
Approximately 50 people were loaded onto buses and taken to transitional housing units as part of the All In Mile High initiative, formerly known as House1000, which aims to move 2,000 people into housing by the end of the year.
“That’s the smartest and most proactive thing that’s been done in years,” said Audrey Griffin, one of the people heading into housing.
Griffin was living at the encampment last week when she says outreach workers from the city's Department of Housing Stability (HOST) established a list of names to move into housing.
“It’s the tiny houses, so a little more private, better environment for the dog and I,” Griffin said.
Others, like DJ Wright, weren’t so lucky. Wright says he was spending the night at a friend’s house in Lakewood and left his tent unattended that night. Thursday, he was told to move on and find a new place to sleep, without being given an opportunity for housing.
“It sucks, man, it really does,” Wright said. “Because something simple like that, we fall asleep in the wrong place, we don’t get the help we need.”
Communications Director for HOST Derek Woodbury says more opportunities will become available for housing.
“At the time that we created the list, it was based on a certain number of housing resources that we had through the All In Mile High communities and we’re managing to that,” Woodbury said. “The good news is this isn’t the last move-in day for the city, there’s many more of these ahead.”
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