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Homelessness pushes out to the Colorado foothills and Denver suburbs
BY ALAN GIONET CBS NEWS COLORADO
In an RTD lot next to an open power outlet, they made their home. Kari Vernon and her boyfriend were living by a power box near a light pole in the green grass. ere was a pile of things including suitcases and clothes, covered by a loose tarp. But it hadn’t been raining.
“Missed the bus that last three days because only three buses that leave here in the morning and three that come here in the afternoon. So if you miss them three buses, you’re stuck here,” she said. ey had come to Evergreen to get away from the city.
“Denver, I will never stay down there,” she said.
“It’s like once the sun goes down, it’s crazy.”
Crime and drugs and alcoholism among the homeless population are a worry.
“We’ve had a lot of stu stolen. We’ve started over like seven times because all of our belongings are gone.”
All over the metro area and foothills, homelessness has been spreading out.
In Je erson County, many of the homeless are originally from the area. ere are no year round overnight shelters in Je erson County, so people either create their own shelter in places like parking lots or open spaces, or head into Denver where there is overnight shelter. But during the day, many return.
“ ey wind up coming back and they’re afraid. Because it’s too crowded. It’s overcrowded they say and there’s more crime in general,” said Karen Cowling, director of Mission Arvada at e Rising Church.
“ ey prefer to be in the environment that they’re used to in a place where they feel safer.”
Originally Mission Arvada at e Rising Church was asked by the city to help provide services to a growing homeless population. Mass transportation helps people get back and forth from the city and is part of what made Arvada attractive to people experiencing homelessness.
“ e transit is right here. e parks and open space areas and restaurants and it’s a desirable place for people to be homeless and otherwise,” said Cowling. More and more people are seeking refuge here and in places like Lakewood and even Evergreen.
“For the last ve years I would say, people are coming out into the suburbs,” said Cowling.
Vernon and her boyfriend moved from Florida where crime was a problem as well. “My older son moved here and he was like Mom come on and check it out,” she explained. He lives in Broom eld where he is concerned about his mother’s situation.
“He worries about me all the time,” said Vernon. “His wife’s like, he worries about you from the moment he wakes up until he goes to sleep.”
SEE HOMELESSNESS, P10
