Seeking To Secure Housing

Bonjour,

 

My name is Dwayne Peterson. Allowing for a brief period indoors and being unable to save enough money for housing during this period, I will be unhoused for five (5) years, all beginning in the City and County of Denver. I am seeking assistance towards re-establishing myself, which includes becoming rehoused. 

As I continue to pursue securing housing for myself by communicating with and submitting housing proposals and ideas to local, city, state, and federal officials, housing agencies, developers, and philanthropic organizations, I have become aware of corruption (misappropriation of funds and fraud) within Denver City government and malfeasance among housing agencies, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations meant to assist unhoused people.

In an email I received from the Office of the Auditor/City and County of Denver, some Denver City Council Members are not allowing the Auditor the access they need to complete an independent audit in alignment with the auditing standards Denver Charter requires.

A City Journal article titled, "Subsidizing Addiction," highlights how governments promote and fund drug engagement among the unhoused as a prerequisite for receiving services, services that only exacerbate drug interaction and homelessness.

 

I am a Dancer and Ballet Instructor and attended Undergraduate and Graduate School at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I possess twenty-five years of experience in the legal field. I do not engage in illicit activity or behaviour of any kind. I vote.

 

These characteristics and qualities have precluded me from receiving housing assistance. Saint Francis, Senior Support Services, Denver Human Services, Bayaud Enterprises, Denver Rescue Mission, and Colorado Coalition for the Homeless have refused to assist me.  They define me as "high functioning" and "no risk." I do not possess the traditional and accepted prerequisites (a criminal record, mental health and drug issues, or physical challenges) of an unhoused person. Hence, I can acquire housing on my own.

Note: I was "gainfully" employed at a law firm and maintaining my dance career four years ago and still became homeless. If homelessness were a product of employment, 45% of those experiencing homelessness would have housing because they have "jobs." Being unhoused is expensive. The public and those who are unhoused each monetary pay costs. Housing is not a "right." Housing is a necessity.  

 

I have communicated with local, city, and state representatives, philanthropic groups, architects, developers, and Marsha Fudge, the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). None are focused on the unhoused and housing. 

I have sent correspondence sharing my plight to NPR, PBS, CNN, Associated Press, Daily Camera, Colorado Sun, MSN, The New York Times, The Aurora Sentinel, and channels 4, 7, 9, and 31. KDVR Fox31 Channel 2 News - Denver and an investigative ABC affiliate from Albuquerque have reported on my unhoused experiences and the impact of migrants on the houseless crisis in Denver. I have been interviewed by Westword, included in a piece by Cecilia LaFrance of "Scene on Colfax," written an article for the Denver Post (below) and a report published in the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle (here): detailing my experiences with and around homelessness.

https://glendalecherrycreek.com/2022/03/saints-of-enablement-alternative-housing-supports-crime-and-addiction-while-drug-free-residents-are-driven-away/

Sunday, August 29, 2021 

Homelessness is being managed, not remedied

By Dwayne Peterson

Guest Commentary

I resided in Platt Park, a neighborhood south of downtown, for 17 years in a garage unit on a lot with a separate house that contained four apartments. The landlord at the time refused for years, if not decades, to address the staircase, door, hot water heater, heating, flooring, asbestos, plumbing, boiler, and electrical problems.

With the rising cost of housing in Colorado, it was better to endure these issues for a while. However, it became necessary and long overdue for tenants to pursue legal action against this landlord. Within a few days, the property had been sold and was slated to be razed by the new owners. These actions left five humans desperately searching for housing that we could not afford.

Having little savings with no housing alternatives, I became unhoused.

I remain unhoused three years later.

I started utilizing the day shelter at Haven of Hope to shower, launder my clothes, and have a meal. During the nights I would rest on concrete, metal benches, or the sidewalk. For two months I sheltered next to a bridge in a makeshift structure consisting of a few sheets of large plywood I obtained from a nearby industrial site.

Over time I began frequenting Saint Francis Homeless Day Shelter and calendaring my days around acquiring meals and new clothing from churches and donation centers.

I have always refused to stay overnight in a homeless shelter. They are unsanitary and unhygienic (think Hepatitis A, B, and C). Homeless shelters, in general, invite disease and violence. I have slept in doorways and rode RTD throughout the night for a time. I was constantly sleep-deprived.

I am currently a resident of the emergency homeless shelter Beloved Community Village, a tiny home village. The environment is hostile. Residents are verbally and physically abusive and have destroyed property. Stalking, racism, and drug use among residents and their guests occur 24 hours daily. The grounds are populated with canine defecation, and sanitation is a problem. The staff of the Colorado Village Collaborative ignores my complaints.

To compound my challenges, housing advocacy groups such as Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Saint Francis, and a plethora of other groups have refused to assist me to find permanent housing. They state I am "high functioning" and "no risk."

I attended undergraduate and graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder. I have a bank account, a resume, and no criminal record. I do not engage with drugs of any kind. I am not violent, and, fortunately, do not have a mental impairment.

Thus, the thinking is that I should be able to find housing on my own. But, I do not have a consistent income. The average cost of housing in Denver is approximately $1,500 a month. Affordable, affordable housing does not exist.

The system is broken and no one will consider my application for assistance.

I discovered homeless assistance groups cater to people

Dwayne Peterson has been a resident of Denver for 45 years.

with a mental illness or those who have a criminal record, and individuals who choose to engage in illicit behavior and activities which include the use, manufacturing, and distribution of methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and an inclination towards violence.

Upon my first day of being homeless, I began to network.

I met with, and continue to correspond with a number of public officials working on housing for cities, the state and the nation.

I consistently speak with Denver City Council members about my need for housing.

I have engaged Habitat for Humanity and Radian, a nonprofit architecture and urban design group advancing social equity by redefining how places are designed and built.

Two sides bear responsibility for the unhoused crisis.

On one side are public officials, housing agencies, and organizations. They must actively end homelessness by protecting and providing affordable housing.

On the other side are those who are unhoused. These individuals must decide to stop involving themselves in behavior that makes access to housing and jobs impossible.

Homelessness is a money- maker for Denver through federal aid and charitable donations. As such, homelessness is only being managed, not remedied.

The City and County of Denver's auditor recently found that "Denver Economic Development & Opportunity is not ensuring affordable housing is preserved and involuntary displacement is prevented. In this finding, the audit team determined that Economic Development is not evaluating its affordable housing programs' effectiveness, is not adequately enforcing affordable housing violations, is not effectively communicating with other agencies about compliance efforts, and has not created processes for preserving foreclosed affordable housing units. These deficiencies impede Economic Development's ability to preserve its affordable housing inventory, to evaluate whether program goals are being met, and to successfully resolve and prevent compliance violations."

In spite of my advances since becoming unhoused, I know supportive housing agencies will not assist me. I must do it on my own.

Copyright (c) 2021 Denver Post, Edition 8/29/2021

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The funding for which I ask is essential. However, I also want the public to know that five hundred million dollars were directed to maintain houselessness (30,000 people are homeless in Denver, Colorado) in Denver, Colorado in 2021. By 2023 that number will be over a billion dollars. Denver City Council and Denver City Mayor Michael Hancock deliberately exclude the public from these conversations and decisions. Your donations and tax dollars are being used to line the pockets of Denver officials and the operators and board members of nonprofits.

On Thursday, 3 February 2022, I left the temporary emergency homeless shelter, Beloved "Community" Village (BCV), operated by Cole Chandler and Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC). My life was in danger. I was threatened with the use of a firearm and called racial slurs by one resident, Cody Addison Phillips, who is also a paedophile.

During my residency at this shelter, I witnessed drug trafficking, property destruction, physical and verbal altercations, human trafficking, gun violence, prostitution, sanitation violations, a stabbing, thefts, and domestic terrorism. I contacted law enforcement on more than fifty occasions. Cole Chandler, Beloved Community Village staff, and Colorado Village Collaborative ignored my complaints.

Despite my best efforts, I have yet to acquire housing. I survive on the streets. This is not healthy. 

I sent the following letter to Registered Neighbourhood Organizations (RNO's), news media, local, city, and state officials. 

To Whom It May Concern,

I have been a resident, unfortunately, of the emergency homeless shelter Beloved "Community" Village ( BCV) operated by Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC) in Globeville in Denver, Colorado since February of 2020.

It is important that the public and the media be accurately informed about Beloved "Community" Village and Colorado Village Collaborative.

I continue to witness the use, manufacturing, and distribution of methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana by individuals residing at this emergency homeless shelter and their guests.

There are physical altercations and public nuisance, and disturbing the peace violations. Some of these violations have been witnessed by Beloved "Community" Village staff and not reported to law enforcement and the city of Denver.

I have been threatened with the use of a firearm by an individual residing at this temporary emergency homeless shelter. This same individual called me “a nigger."

There are sanitation violations (feces throughout the property and in the "community" house).

Neighbours across the street from 4400 Pearl Street, Denver, Colorado 80216 (the current address of Beloved "Community" Village. By 30 April 2022 they will relocate to 4201 North Monroe Street) complain about this temporary emergency homeless shelter.

People of color are being stalked, threatened, harassed, and verbally abused by Caucasian individuals residing at Beloved "Community" Village and their guests.

I report these crimes to the city of Denver, law enforcement, and Denver City Council.

Beloved "Community" Village staff, Cole Chandler, and Colorado Village Collaborative do not perform their due diligence investigating these crimes. 

In ignoring the individuals committing these crimes, Colorado Village Collaborative only emboldens these individuals to continue their nefarious and insidious activities and lifestyles.

Regardless of the funding Colorado Village Collaborative receives, Cole Chandler is lying to the public and those he engages for funding.

Beloved "Community" Village is a hostile environment. Beloved "Community" Village is lawlessness and anarchy. 

I also want to state I know of two previous individuals of color who resided at Beloved "Community" Village. They left not because they located housing but attributable to their weariness of being violated by Caucasian individuals living at and visiting this temporary emergency homeless shelter. 

Cole Chandler is lying about some of the people who have left Beloved "Community" Village for permanent housing. He does not know the whereabouts or why everyone has left this temporary emergency homeless shelter. 

Furthermore, a current individual of color residing at this temporary emergency homeless shelter continues to be violated by Caucasian residents and their guests. He is reticent to communicate about being harassed. This individual believes in reporting their being violated that they, the person being violated, will be evicted. 

This is disturbing and wrong.

In a letter dated 2022 November to Andrew Phelps, Colorado Governor Jared Polis' New Senior Advisor on Homelessness and Housing, I wrote:

In the absence of a plan by housing and homelessness advocates and agencies to solve homelessness and lackluster action among the unhoused themselves to remedy their own situations (the problem is monumental), I have a plan for my rehousing. I just require a little assistance.

In my search and investigation for housing thus far, I have discovered two of many problems related to my plan. One, any amount of funding I request is either met with consternation or in the majority of instances ignored. Two, when housing is recommended, an extremely rare occurrence, these units are poorly managed, in sharp decline and in absolute disrepair (this is common in housing recommended for the unhoused).

The estimate by the Common Sense Institute and the Audit Report (see below) are intrinsically intertwined with my desire and proposal for my rehousing. Funding to maintain homelessness is exorbitant and both continue to rise. Reform within housing agencies and organizations is tantamount and its absence is hindering actual solutions to homelessness.

All this being stated, I am looking to partner with a responsible party within the city and county of Denver or Colorado (this may aid in the confidence of a landlord or property manager) to locate a healthy and stable living environment and acquire funding for stated living environment for twenty-four thousand dollars ($24,000) (an infinitesimally minuscule amount considering the millions and shortly billions of dollars being spent annually to in essence keep people unhoused).

My gofundme - http://gofundme.com/f/seeking-to-secure-housing

Sincerely,

Dwayne Peterson

Common Sense Institute estimates that total homelessness spending in metro Denver will grow from $464.9 million in 2021 to $659.5 million in 2023 (42%) and a total of $1.7 billion over those three years.

A 2019 Denver Audit (the most recent report investigating Denver's record on housing and homelessness) of Denver's Road Home shows gaps in collaborative efforts and staff resources that impede, among other things, the division's ability to address homelessness and its bylaws lack important elements which compromises its ability to act effectively.

The funds for which I ask will be applied to my securing housing.

 

Merci Bien,

 

Dwayne Peterson