Denver City Council poised to limit homeless camp sweeps in freezing weather

The Denver City Council is poised to put much stricter limits on when city agencies can clear homeless encampments during the cold weather months.

A bill that would prohibit the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment and other city agencies from removing shelter from public places when the outside temperature is forecast to be 32 degrees or below was approved on its first reading on Monday night. It must pass on a second reading next week to become law.

Monday’s 9-4 vote came after a lengthy debate with members Kevin Flynn, Amanda Sawyer, Diana Romero Campbell and Darrell Watson voting no.

At the core of the disagreement was the question of whether allowing people to live in tents and other impermanent shelters on the city’s streets and sidewalks presented more of a health risk to those people than clearing encampments and trying to compel residents to accept offers of shelter in the freezing cold.

Dr. Joshua Barocas testified before a council committee in November about the high risk of hypothermia and frostbite among people who are homeless. Barocas serves homeless patients at the Denver Health Medical Center. He noted that extended exposure to temperatures of even 40 degrees can lead to serious medical complications.

“It’s illogical for me to think about telling people to move when it’s freezing,” City Council President Jamie Torres, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said Monday night. “It’s illogical for us to say that we cannot legislate a temperature standard that medical professionals have testified to being necessary.”

But opponents argued that city officials already exercise restraint and will postpone camping ban enforcement actions if there is a risk to the safety of campers. Bob McDonald, the interim director of the city’s public health department, raised concern during the hearing about setting a blanket 32-degree standard for stopping encampment cleanups when those encampments could harbor other health risks related to things like rodent infestation.

“I think we should trust our public health, our safety and our public works professionals as to when these need to be carried out and to do it humanely,” said Flynn.

He and Sawyer voted against the measure passing out of committee last month.

At-large Councilwoman Sarah Parady, another one of the bill’s four sponsors, introduced two amendments on Monday in response to concerns raised by opposing council members and Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration.

One of those changes shortened the amount of time by which a sweep or encampment cleanup would have to end from four hours to two before temperatures are expected to drop below freezing. Opponents argued that change would still not provide enough time to carry out enforcement at large encampments on short winter days.

The second change provided a carveout for public health officials to provide evidence in writing that conditions in the encampment are more dangerous than moving people along in freezing weather. Both amendments passed.