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Week of January 26, 2023
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
SouthPlatteIndependent.net
VOLUME 78 | ISSUE 12
INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 13 | VOICES: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 26
Our in-depth look at the housing crisis
Meth exposure poses low risk to public Health officials say BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@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, P16
With the list of Colorado libraries that temporarily closed due to methamphetamine contamination at three locations, some residents asked: What’s the health risk of people who were recently in these spaces? In late December, Boulder Public Library became the first to temporarily close after testing found levels of meth in its restroom exhaust vents. Later, several areas of the Boulder RTD station closed due to contamination as well. On Jan. 11, the Englewood Public Library and portions of the Englewood Civic Center temporarily closed after test results found meth contamination. Most recently, Littleton’s Bemis Public Library temporarily closed Jan. 18 after testing found elevated levels of meth contamination in several bathrooms. Meth is a highly addictive stimulant drug that is commonly either ingested, smoked or injected, said Eric Hill, an emergency medicine physician and the EMS medical director for the Medical Center of Aurora. However, experts say the risk that secondary meth contamination in public spaces poses to the public is fairly low. “We don’t have any data to say that there’s a high public health risk from SEE METH, P10
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