Stop the Sweeps and Start Leading with Humanity: A Message to New Denver Leadership

Fifty-five years ago, on April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while fighting for #economicjustice and the rights of Black workers. The Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) honors his legacy. His vision of a just society with a #guaranteedincome was informed by his experiences and observations of poverty and inequality. King's vision for a guaranteed income never became a reality during his lifetime, but his advocacy for economic justice and equality remains to inspire social movements and policy initiatives to address poverty and inequality in America to this day.

We are close to imagining a reality in Denver where every #unhoused individual has the resources to secure housing, food, and other basic needs. Months into our program, we know that providing a basic income to unhoused individuals is necessary not because of any individual's personal failures but is fed by a deeply rooted economic system that is failing so many people.?

By working collaboratively with our nineteen diverse partner organizations, their deep roots in our community are responsive to the unique needs of our unhoused neighbors. Yet current legislative discussions that rely on forced displacement in the form of sweeps instead of real solutions to rising out of poverty persist.?

As we prepare for a new Mayoral leadership in Denver, we want to reiterate that sweeps do not work. Safe, viable, accessible, affordable, and available pathways are required before it is reasonable to ask people to move from a safe location, even if that is in a public space.

We have pathways that work:?

• Our partner, the Colorado Village Collaborative , has shown that Safe Outdoor Spaces and Tiny Home communities provide a safe transitional space for permanent housing. They are expanding this year, but more is needed. We could use one in every neighborhood throughout Denver. Thank you to the city of Denver for supporting its expansion.?
• Another partner of ours, the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative , is an example of another transitional pathway to permanent housing, allowing folks living in cars a safe and legal place to sleep at night.

An ongoing myth and misconception touted in this year's elections are that our unhoused neighbors do not want to be in permanent housing. We are incredibly grateful to Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) for interviewing over 1,000 of our unhoused neighbors and letting them tell us directly what they want in the Pipe Dreams and Picket Fences report.

Here is a link to the executive summary.?

Our top two takeaways are:

• "Between 93% and 99% of houseless people want some form of housing."??
• "The top 2 barriers to housing are not having money (53%) and having a low credit score (38%), followed by not having a phone (35%)."

Denver Basic Income Project addresses one of the root causes of homelessness by providing people with the financial resources and smartphones to secure stable housing, meet their basic needs, and address the underlying issues contributing to the problem.

Here are a few comments from individuals who have been receiving cash from us since July 2022:

• "Well, I'm not on the side of the road. I'm not in a broken-down van sleeping every night. I am not cold. It's just like moving from, you know. It's a lot. It's a lot different. I got a bathtub. I got a bathtub I can take a shower in."?
• "...having the money has been helping us afford necessities and things that help us thrive. To thrive and not just survive."?

You may read more comments like this from participants in our initial trial findings report.?

With your help, we are accelerating the path to stability and thriving for our unhoused neighbors.

Thank you to all of our partners and supporters for your ongoing contributions to this work. ??