Week of January 26, 2023
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
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Our in-depth look at the housing crisis
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 49
Weekly begins term as sheriff Discusses plans BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Racial Inequities: Black Coloradans often face barriers in homeownership Some now look to build equity for future generations BY NINA JOSS AND HALEY LENA NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM; HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A few years ago, Aurora Warms the Night, an Aurora-based nonprofit serving people who need housing, ran into a challenge when assisting its Black clients in applying for apartments. When
the applicants visited properties, landlords denied their applications. This happened over and over again. So the team decided to take a different approach, sending in White volunteers to check out the apartments first. “I would send one of our employees or people that were White to look at the apartment — to get the pricing, get everything, to make sure everything was available,” said Brian Arnold, who was executive director of the group at
the time five years ago. “After that, we did the application online and sent it in without them being able to see the person.” Once the application got approved, the team at Aurora Warms the Night would let the real estate agents see the client was Black. Arnold said this process worked almost every time and became the organization’s own way of making a dent in the discrimination that people of color may face, but find SEE INEQUITIES, P14
Taking his place as Douglas County’s 34th sheriff, Darren Weekly has taken steps to put more deputies with proper training on the frontline, including adding 27 deputy sheriff positions that will be divided between patrol and detentions. Weekly said his top priority is to reassess all commission positions in the department. The process started after Weekly was sworn in in early January. To provide a better front end service for both deputies and citizens, Weekly has dissolved the Pattern Crimes Unit and moved them to the street. “They were doing a good job, it wasn’t like they weren’t working, but I think we’d be better off putting those cops on the street in unmarked cars, answering calls for service,” said Weekly. To keep up with the county’s growing population, Weekly is going to add an additional crime analyst, staying within the current budget. The analysts will look at the calls for service that come in, reports the deputies take and by using heat maps, will be able to identify where crime is likely to occur and provide that information to the deputies. From Weekly’s perspective, every deputy sheriff that is out on the street should be a pattern crimes deputy. SEE PLANS, P4
Regarding subscription prices. P2