Denver city workers and police reached  the area nearby Samaritan House earlier this year and cleaned the area where many homeless people used to live. They sweeped temporarily that become a large camp off the sidewalks.

The sidewalk just in front of the shelter at Lawrence Street and Park Avenue West had beencrowded with homeless On Wednesday, with their belongings wrapped up into shopping carts or bundled beside them.

The Denver Rescue mission sat across the street from Samaritan House. Alexxa Gagner, spokeswoman for the Rescue Mission told that there were always homeless in the area.

Geoff Bennett, vice president of shelter and community outreach for Catholic Charities, which operates Samaritan House  said  that after the sweep in March, the number of people camping have been decreased.

Bennett said,  “Within the past two months it has gotten just as bad as it was”.

Staffers and volunteers at the shelter have complained before the sweep that they had been harassed by those who were on the street.

Randy Russell, 56 years old, sitting on the concrete, setting his back against a wall in front of the shelter  said “We ain’t got no place to go”.

Russell informed that he received a Social Security check of $733, which was too little to afford rent in Denver keeping in consideration that the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Denver was $1,394 in September.

Gagner said , “When the homeless people have been pushed from areas along the South Platte River, where the sweeps took place, they moved elsewhere”.

Julie Smith, a spokeswoman with Denver Human Services  said, “We know it has repopulated down there. The city’s homeless outreach teams are working in this area three days a week to determine why people are not accessing shelter and services, to inform them that they cannot continue to sleep on the sidewalks and to determine the best ways we can assist them,”

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By Prakriti Neogi