Denver Social Worker Says Homeless Encampments Will Be Back

DENVER (CBS4) - As a Clinical Street Outreach Worker for Saint Francis Center in Denver, Elisabeth Francis has been inside a lot of homeless camps, but none like those Denver is home to now.

"There's been steady increase in meth use in the community... the stories that I would hear from people about how they felt unsafe, especially women in their own tent. They would share stories of themselves being assaulted."

In addition to safety issues, she says, there are public health issues. The people who were camping outside Morey Middle School, until the city moved them Wednesday, have had no access to bathrooms or running water.

Francis says the reasons people choose to live on the street are complicated.

"People really bond together out here. They use the phrase 'street family' a lot. Every person has their own story of how they came to be on streets, and their own traumas, their own experiences."

Some, she says, suffer from PTSD when they are in enclosed spaces. Others, she says, have tried to access services only to be let down.

"Things have just fallen through the cracks. They're just tired of hearing people's broken promises. That doesn't mean they're without hope or there isn't options to support that person or that they don't want to have a connection."

Without a city-sanctioned camp, she says, the neighborhood camps will be back.

"We can't hide homeless from the public eye. It exists. We need to be able to address it in better ways."