Clock Is Winding Down On Denver Homeless Camp
DENVER (CBS4) - The City of Denver is warning the homeless their camps have to be off downtown sidewalks. The goal is to clear up the area near Lawrence Street, Broadway and Park Avenue West near the Denver Rescue Mission starting Tuesday.
It's America in 2016 in the heart of Denver. CBS4's Rick Sallinger on Monday asked those living there if they wouldn't mind showing their homes. A man named Van allowed CBS4 inside his "home."
"You've got a fence, you've got a whole big back wall … there are milk crates and stuff," Van said. "Instead of putting my clothes in the suitcase, put the clothes in the crates and it actually makes it insulated padded walls."
There were four people in the makeshift tent. Tarps provided protection from the Monday's rain. It's an alternative by choice to a shelter with brick walls, according to a homeless woman with Van.
"There are 75 women all crowded into one room in the Holy Rosary overflow," she said.
Their lives are in a basket soon to be pushed away. A sign warns that "the city will remove all items encumbering the public spaces in this area" on Tuesday.
"I'll try to move most of my stuff," a woman named Carla said.
Carla doesn't even have mattress and food is cooked on a grill.
Van told Sallinger he is there to avoid rent and live life as he wants.
"I could honestly live like this for the rest of my life and be happy. I mean every day I wake up with nothing in my pocket, but at the end of the day I've got something to show for it," he said.
Van said he does odd jobs for money. After the city removes the makeshift tents the items will be placed in shelters. It's not known where the people will go.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
