Alex Binder
On February 24, 2016 the Local Government Committee of the Colorado State legislature voted 5 for 6 against HB16-1191, known as the “Right to Rest Act.” We were one vote short of passing this committee.
We are very sad. Because this bill did not pass the people of Colorado will continue to be awakened and moved about the city with no place to legally rest; the people of Colorado will continue to be ticketed and later thrown in jail for covering up with a blanket to stay warm; the people of Colorado will continue to hear taps on their window from officers telling them they can’t sleep in their own car. Laws will continue to be used to attempt to hide, to move “away,” the fact we live in a State and a Country with mass homelessness and poverty.
But we cannot be hidden and forced “away.” We are here and we will continue to exist in public space. And just as we must continue to exist, we will continue to join together and fight for our rights to exist.
Representatives Salazar and Melton introduced this legislation to end the alarming trend of cities passing laws that criminalize the basic civil rights of homeless individuals. The Right to Rest Act would, among other things, protect the rights of homeless people to move freely, rest, have privacy of one’s belonging, and eat in public space as well as protect their right to occupy a legally parked motor vehicle. The many laws across Colorado which infringe on these rights would be rendered null and void, and people will be allowed to rest.
This bill would “allow people the right to rest without harassment from police and without ordinances that violate civil and constitutional rights,” the bill’s Sponsor Representative Salazar explained at the Right to Rest Festival. “You better believe homeless people are being discriminated against. So many ordinances are being passed against homelessness that violate people’s rights, and this has become a statewide concern.”
Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), as a member of Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), is leading the campaign for the Right to Rest Act in Colorado together with partner organizations across the state and along with 53 local Colorado organizations and over 170 nationally endorsing the campaign. In a coordinated campaign, California, Oregon, and Colorado are running the Right to Rest Act in their state legislatures.
Here in Colorado the low estimates of counted homeless people is 16,000, with schools counting 23,000 homeless children. Cities across Colorado are increasingly enacting and enforcing laws which punish people for doing what any person must do to survive–even though the extreme lack of affordable housing is forcing more and more people out of their homes and into living in public spaces. Due to the fact that these activities are being conducted in public space, these individuals are being treated inhumanely. Studies have shown for optimum health a person needs 7 to 8 hours of solid uninterrupted sleep. Colorado is ranked in the top ten states in the nation as to the highest cost of housing. The average one bedroom apartment is $1255. The average worker making minimum wage is priced out of the housing market. Colorado has what is known as the Telluride Law giving the owner/landlord the right to raise rent to any amount he deems fit. These two factors are contributing to people formerly housed no choice but to occupy public spaces.
The recently published report “Too High a Price: What Criminalizing Homelessness is Costing Colorado” by DU Sturm College of Law Homeless Advocacy Policy Project, shows that laws criminalizing homeless people for being homeless have become widespread in Colorado. Colorado’s 76 largest cities have 351 anti-homeless ordinances. Cities issue citations to homeless residents at a staggering rate. For example, 30% of all citations that Grand Junction issued are pursuant to an anti-homeless ordinance. The citations that Fort Collins issues to homeless residents represent 36% of total citations issued. Colorado Springs has doubled the rate at which they enforce anti-homeless ordinances between 2010 and 2014. Boulder stands out in issuing camping ban citations by issuing 1,767 between 2010 and 2014. By studying the enforcement of five anti-homeless ordinances in Denver, the report found that in 2014, Denver spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars ($750,000.00) enforcing these ordinances.
The Colorado Homeless People’s Rights Survey, conducted by DHOL and partner organizations across the state, documents the experiences of 431 homeless people in 12 Colorado cities. This survey shows that 70% of respondents have been criminalized for sleeping, 64% for sitting/lying down, and 50% for loitering. Also, 60% have had their belongings taken by police or city employees. A similar survey done in Denver in 2012 found that 37% of respondents chose not to cover up against the elements in order to avoid violating the camping ban and being confronted by police.
To make a serious dent in the number of Coloradans facing homelessness, we must prioritize our efforts at the federal, state and local levels to provide affordable and healthy homes for all people who need it. At the same time, our humanity and common sense impel us to immediately end the cruel, costly, ineffective and unconstitutional practice of criminalizing people for performing necessary acts of survival in public places. That is what the Right to Rest Act is designed to do, and why the Colorado Legislature should have passed it.
So much gratitude goes to Representatives Salazar and Melton for their incredible, dedicated, and deep hearted leadership in this fight.
Together we ran the Right to Rest Act last year and were voted down 3-8; we ran the Right to Rest Act this year and were voted down 5-6; we will keep coming back to the legislator year in and year out until we have the Right to Rest!
Prior to the hearing, at 12:30pm, a rally was held in front of the Capitol to remind our legislators all people need the right to rest! With over 100 supporters in front of the Capitol, we heard the raw, sad truths from people experiencing homelessness about how the laws criminalizing homelessness make it nearly impossible to survive.
One woman, Serena, spoke out and said, “I just came from the library, they woke me up while I was sleeping, I’m really tired. As I stand here right now and I look at everybody, and everybody else that is homeless I’m sure you’re tired, too. I haven’t been homeless that long, but I’ve been here for about a week. You know, I have to get up every time a cop comes by and takes my blanket from underneath me and makes sure that I’m not covered up. I’m not out here because I choose to be, I don’t have a place. It is really cold, and it was really cold last night, and I don’t want to be here. If I could get a job, I would, but I am so tired, I just want to sleep, that’s all I want to do, you know. And I can’t sleep no matter where I go. I’m tired of f*cking rolling my bags, I’m so tired of all of it. I just want to sleep, but at the same time I have to get a job, I have to make money. I have two boys who need me, and God bless that they’re not here, but how am I supposed to get back to them if I can’t sleep? How am I supposed to work? Debra said earlier that it’s torture, and it is, I can’t even think straight because I haven’t slept. No one thinks straight when they go days without sleep. I can understand why some of these people turn to drugs just to keep them up. I don’t know what this is about, but the Right to Rest sounds right to me! I want to sleep. I don’t have anything, I don’t have blankets that I can use out here because they said that they will tell me to take them from underneath me; you can’t have anything over you and you can’t have anything underneath you, and I think that’s bull*hit because what about us? How are we supposed to get out of this if we don’t have a chance? And we don’t have a chance, if we don’t have the right to sleep, right? I need sleep. I mean that’s all I need. And if I could sleep at least 6 hours, then I’d be alright. Looking for a job would be easier, getting a place would be easier, you can’t expect us to get out of this situation if you’re not helping.”
We are very sad. Because this bill did not pass the people of Colorado will continue to be awakened and moved about the city with no place to legally rest; the people of Colorado will continue to be ticketed and later thrown in jail for covering up with a blanket to stay warm; the people of Colorado will continue to hear taps on their window from officers telling them they can’t sleep in their own car. Laws will continue to be used to attempt to hide, to move “away,” the fact we live in a State and a Country with mass homelessness and poverty.
But we cannot be hidden and forced “away.” We are here and we will continue to exist in public space. And just as we must continue to exist, we will continue to join together and fight for our rights to exist.
Representatives Salazar and Melton introduced this legislation to end the alarming trend of cities passing laws that criminalize the basic civil rights of homeless individuals. The Right to Rest Act would, among other things, protect the rights of homeless people to move freely, rest, have privacy of one’s belonging, and eat in public space as well as protect their right to occupy a legally parked motor vehicle. The many laws across Colorado which infringe on these rights would be rendered null and void, and people will be allowed to rest.
This bill would “allow people the right to rest without harassment from police and without ordinances that violate civil and constitutional rights,” the bill’s Sponsor Representative Salazar explained at the Right to Rest Festival. “You better believe homeless people are being discriminated against. So many ordinances are being passed against homelessness that violate people’s rights, and this has become a statewide concern.”
Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), as a member of Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), is leading the campaign for the Right to Rest Act in Colorado together with partner organizations across the state and along with 53 local Colorado organizations and over 170 nationally endorsing the campaign. In a coordinated campaign, California, Oregon, and Colorado are running the Right to Rest Act in their state legislatures.
Here in Colorado the low estimates of counted homeless people is 16,000, with schools counting 23,000 homeless children. Cities across Colorado are increasingly enacting and enforcing laws which punish people for doing what any person must do to survive–even though the extreme lack of affordable housing is forcing more and more people out of their homes and into living in public spaces. Due to the fact that these activities are being conducted in public space, these individuals are being treated inhumanely. Studies have shown for optimum health a person needs 7 to 8 hours of solid uninterrupted sleep. Colorado is ranked in the top ten states in the nation as to the highest cost of housing. The average one bedroom apartment is $1255. The average worker making minimum wage is priced out of the housing market. Colorado has what is known as the Telluride Law giving the owner/landlord the right to raise rent to any amount he deems fit. These two factors are contributing to people formerly housed no choice but to occupy public spaces.
The recently published report “Too High a Price: What Criminalizing Homelessness is Costing Colorado” by DU Sturm College of Law Homeless Advocacy Policy Project, shows that laws criminalizing homeless people for being homeless have become widespread in Colorado. Colorado’s 76 largest cities have 351 anti-homeless ordinances. Cities issue citations to homeless residents at a staggering rate. For example, 30% of all citations that Grand Junction issued are pursuant to an anti-homeless ordinance. The citations that Fort Collins issues to homeless residents represent 36% of total citations issued. Colorado Springs has doubled the rate at which they enforce anti-homeless ordinances between 2010 and 2014. Boulder stands out in issuing camping ban citations by issuing 1,767 between 2010 and 2014. By studying the enforcement of five anti-homeless ordinances in Denver, the report found that in 2014, Denver spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars ($750,000.00) enforcing these ordinances.
The Colorado Homeless People’s Rights Survey, conducted by DHOL and partner organizations across the state, documents the experiences of 431 homeless people in 12 Colorado cities. This survey shows that 70% of respondents have been criminalized for sleeping, 64% for sitting/lying down, and 50% for loitering. Also, 60% have had their belongings taken by police or city employees. A similar survey done in Denver in 2012 found that 37% of respondents chose not to cover up against the elements in order to avoid violating the camping ban and being confronted by police.
To make a serious dent in the number of Coloradans facing homelessness, we must prioritize our efforts at the federal, state and local levels to provide affordable and healthy homes for all people who need it. At the same time, our humanity and common sense impel us to immediately end the cruel, costly, ineffective and unconstitutional practice of criminalizing people for performing necessary acts of survival in public places. That is what the Right to Rest Act is designed to do, and why the Colorado Legislature should have passed it.
So much gratitude goes to Representatives Salazar and Melton for their incredible, dedicated, and deep hearted leadership in this fight.
Together we ran the Right to Rest Act last year and were voted down 3-8; we ran the Right to Rest Act this year and were voted down 5-6; we will keep coming back to the legislator year in and year out until we have the Right to Rest!
Prior to the hearing, at 12:30pm, a rally was held in front of the Capitol to remind our legislators all people need the right to rest! With over 100 supporters in front of the Capitol, we heard the raw, sad truths from people experiencing homelessness about how the laws criminalizing homelessness make it nearly impossible to survive.
One woman, Serena, spoke out and said, “I just came from the library, they woke me up while I was sleeping, I’m really tired. As I stand here right now and I look at everybody, and everybody else that is homeless I’m sure you’re tired, too. I haven’t been homeless that long, but I’ve been here for about a week. You know, I have to get up every time a cop comes by and takes my blanket from underneath me and makes sure that I’m not covered up. I’m not out here because I choose to be, I don’t have a place. It is really cold, and it was really cold last night, and I don’t want to be here. If I could get a job, I would, but I am so tired, I just want to sleep, that’s all I want to do, you know. And I can’t sleep no matter where I go. I’m tired of f*cking rolling my bags, I’m so tired of all of it. I just want to sleep, but at the same time I have to get a job, I have to make money. I have two boys who need me, and God bless that they’re not here, but how am I supposed to get back to them if I can’t sleep? How am I supposed to work? Debra said earlier that it’s torture, and it is, I can’t even think straight because I haven’t slept. No one thinks straight when they go days without sleep. I can understand why some of these people turn to drugs just to keep them up. I don’t know what this is about, but the Right to Rest sounds right to me! I want to sleep. I don’t have anything, I don’t have blankets that I can use out here because they said that they will tell me to take them from underneath me; you can’t have anything over you and you can’t have anything underneath you, and I think that’s bull*hit because what about us? How are we supposed to get out of this if we don’t have a chance? And we don’t have a chance, if we don’t have the right to sleep, right? I need sleep. I mean that’s all I need. And if I could sleep at least 6 hours, then I’d be alright. Looking for a job would be easier, getting a place would be easier, you can’t expect us to get out of this situation if you’re not helping.”
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