Stuart Steers, April Washington
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
October 28, 2005

Homelessness will grow dramatically and the mentally ill and poor will suffer more sickness if Colorado voters turn down Referendum C, speakers at two Denver rallies said Thursday.

"We have a monumental choice coming up," said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. "If Referendum C doesn't pass, we'll see an increase in homelessness like we've never seen before."

But an opponent of Ref C, Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said the referendum's backers were "painting the ugliest picture possible. There are choices available to us to avoid making those cuts."

B&Bs should only be used in exceptional circumstances

Mitchell said the state could raise funds by selling bonds from tobacco settlement money.

Parvensky and other homeless advocates spoke at the Gathering Place, a day shelter for women and children in Denver. They called for the state to create a homeless shelter in the dormitory at Lowry that recently housed Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Parvensky said the state budget for mental health care has been cut by 25 percent since 2002. He said further cuts will put more mentally ill people on the streets.

"Those who have the greatest need don't get access, and for too many, homelessness is the result," said Parvensky.

Parvensky said hundreds of people are turned away from shelters in Denver on a daily basis.

"We're calling upon the governor and legislature to act immediately to treat this as the crisis it is."

State funding for affordable housing had been slashed to nothing during the past three years, he added.

Later in the day, more than 75 doctors and health workers outside the state Capitol called for funds to be restored to health care and human service programs.

"There can be no denying that cuts in the past four years have led to problems in getting health care to people with mental illness," said Dr. David Iverson, president of the Colorado Psychiatric Society.

"Tens of thousands of Colorado families can no longer get care. We've lost beds in hospitals both on the Front Range and around the state. Every aspect of health care has been affected. If C and D fail, the consequences are going to be worse."

Opponents of the controversial tax measure criticized Ref C as the "high dollar" approach to solving funding problems with Medicaid and other programs for the needy.

John Andrews, former state Senate president, said limiting state spending will force lawmakers and the health care industry to seek ways to fundamentally reform Medicaid, whose costs are outstripping the state's ability to pay.

"We need to recognize this is a form of welfare," Andrews said. "It's public assistance for the low-income, and the goal needs to be you take care of them in the short term and help them become self-sustaining in the long term. That's not achieved by adding even more dollars to the system."

ELECTION 2005

Once again we see that the executive talks a good game without following through on its promises Tricia Marwick SNP housing spokeswoman

There was a 15% rise in households who were in temporary accommodation in March this year, to more than 7,500.

More than half were put up in local authority accommodation, with 21% in bed and breakfasts and 21% in hostels.

The figures showed that more than 80% of the 2,373 households with children who were placed in temporary accommodation were in local authority premises, with 7% in B&Bs.

Scottish National Party housing spokeswoman Tricia Marwick said: "Once again we see that the executive talks a good game without following through on its promises.

"It is a national disgrace that families with children are being forced to live in B&B accommodation and this situation must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Personal circumstances

"Everyone has the right to a secure, warm home they can afford, but these figures show that this is not the reality for a significant number of people in Scotland."

However, an executive spokeswoman said: "What these figures show is how many families were in that kind of accommodation but they tell us nothing about the personal circumstances of these families or how low they were there."

The Conservatives' communities spokeswoman, Mary Scanlon, said homelessness applications had risen by 39% since Labour came to power.

It is encouraging to see that more people are being housed in permanent accommodation Malcolm Chisholm Communities Minister

"The real figure is estimated to be higher still as there are many more people sleeping rough who make no appearance on official statistics," she said.

Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm said the figures showed that new legislation was taking effect.

He welcomed a slowing down in the rate at which homeless applications were increasing.

"We are determined to prevent and tackle homelessness, including repeat homelessness, and it is encouraging to see that more people are being housed in permanent accommodation," he said.