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Loss of Initiative 300 Sad Day for Denver
CCDC is saddened but not surprised that the well-funded opposition to Initiative 300 prevailed in the municipal election yesterday. Initiative 300 was never intended to be a solution to homelessness..it was simply a measure to preserve basic human rights of those living with homelessness, an increasing number caused by out of control development and growing income equality. An increasing number of people experiencing homelessness are people with disabilities, but our support of this measure was about our commitment to social justice for all.
Some members of the opposition used scare tactics that focused on “othering” and making those experiencing homelessness seem somehow scary and different from the rest of us. Our experience is that people experiencing homelessness are no different than anyone else and that most of us are not too far from such an experience. CCDC hopes that the well-funded opposition that said “we can do better” will put some of the time and money into actually helping the situation. Some ideas to help include but are not limited to:
- Improving conditions at homeless shelters and homeless services
- Creating shelter space for people with pets, families, and those unable to tolerate large groups
- Creating safe public facilities for storage and showers
- Supporting innovative programs actually help people like the laundry truck run by Bayaud Enterprises
- Working to require developers to have a percentage of housing available to very low and no-income people in every development including luxury housing
- Working on a way to stabilize rents because the market is not handling it
- Providing legal support for initiatives run by and for the community of people experiencing homelessness like the Tiny Village.
- Doing some deep work and training on their own implicit bias and trying to understand the harm caused by the “othering” done during this campaign
- Actually talking to members of Denver Homeless Out Loud and getting to know individuals who are forced to live on the streets on a personal level.
This is a sad moment for our city. CCDC wants to thank and honor the amazing members of Denver Homeless Out Loud for a job well done. Had this group not been so dramatically outspent the results may have been different.
