By: Ernest Gurulé

There is no denying that Denver, along with most every American city, is dealing with one of the 21st century’s most serious social challenges. Growing homeless populations that seem to expand before our very eyes are in some cities very nearly becoming intractable problems. While Denver is not unique in being unable to solve the problem, it is at least moving in the right direction and finding shelter for many who have found themselves in this situation.
The problem, say city officials, may never be solved and a victory flag for the homeless may never be raised, but doing nothing is not now nor will ever be the solution.

“Homelessness is a very complicated social issue with impact throughout the whole community,” said Angie Nelson, Denver’s Deputy Director of Housing Stability and Homelessness Resolutions. But little by little—and often too slow to please everyone—the city is nonetheless moving in the right direction. Nelson’s department just announced that using a combination of federal funding sources the city has found shelter for nearly 600 individuals in a total of 359 households.
The latest effort is the second 100-day undertaking to take homeless clients off the street and relocated into housing. In making the announcement, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said this effort was the second, but not last, undertaking—the first just over three months ago—to successfully placing roofs over the heads of both individuals and families.
While homeless is often used as a catch-all phrase for this population, said Nelson, it is an extraordinarily diverse group. It can include everyone from an individual who has lost their job and suddenly become homeless to someone who, for a variety of reasons, including the pandemic, has been cast into a chronically homeless situation. The homeless also includes sub-groups made up of elderly, disabled or those who have been clinically diagnosed as mentally ill. But the challenge remains moving as many individuals off the street as possible.
For homeless who have mental illness issues, said Nelson, “We try to approach it in a number of ways,” including providing street outreach and going to where people are and engaging with them. “We’re working to meet them at the point of need” by people with an expertise in mental health.
Nelson says the city has gotten a number of younger homeless and “families with minor children” into housing.
“In some ways,” she said, “it’s a different pipeline,” and one that requires working more closely with partners.
Mental health experts say that homelessness for young children often creates its own set of problems. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, “homeless children have twice the rate of learning disabilities and three time the rate of emotional and behavioral problems of non-homeless children.” More than half of schoolage homeless children, said NCTSN, experience anxiety, depression or withdrawal.” It is estimated that families with children now compose one third of the nation’s homeless population.

“First and foremost,” said Nelson, “housing is a basic human need…we want to work so that every person is housing connected.” Right now, she said, the city’s most recent shift is the “prioritization around folks with underlying health conditions, older people, for example.” In a perfect world, that would mean “long term housing.”
The city is moving as quickly as it can. But because the city doesn’t have all the resources it might like, including ownership of housing availability, it has connected with partners. The city also said it has “leveraged the voter approved Homelessness Resolution Fund to expand an existing contract with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to provide housing unites from their own portfolio and to help identify private landlords willing to participate.”
Despite the city’s efforts to find housing, there is still the challenge of payment; how do newly housed clients pay for their new dwelling? “Most of the resources made available are through housing vouchers and rent subsidies,” said Nelson. The subsidy will stay with that person as “long as they stay in that unit.” If a person placed in housing has a job and earns an income, she said, “thirty percent of those resources goes toward rent.”
As the city works toward addressing the challenge of homelessness, it must also deal with the reality that not everyone is calling and asking for the displaced to come live in their neighborhoods. Nelson is all too familiar with NIMBY—‘Not In My Back Yard.’ “I think it is so critical that we understand it’s going to take a response from the whole community to come together,” she said. “It’s not an issue for one part of town to solve.”
To meet this group as close to half-way as possible, Nelson and her team work to engage and gain the support of the neighborhood, the communities and the business who are aligned with the city. “We’re trying to show that housing works.”

By: Ernest Gurulé

By the time this day ends, across the nation there will be approximately 132 men, women and young people whose lives will have ended by suicide. Over the course of the year, that will add up to nearly 50,000 victims. But another sobering statistic is that in a twelve month period, more than 1.2 million Americans will attempt but fail to take their own lives.

Researchers say that more than half of all suicides in the country are linked to depression, a condition affecting nearly five to eight percent of the population —approximately 25 million people— age 18 and above, making suicide the twelfth leading cause of death in the U.S. Also, says the American Federation for the Prevention of Suicide, neither wealth nor social standing have any impact on this end of life act.

This is underlined by the recent suicide death of Naomi Judd, one half of the country singing duo, The Judds. Ms. Judd took her own life on April 30th, one day before she and her daughter, Winona Judd, were to be inducted into the Country Western Music Hall of Fame.

In discussing her mother’s death, actor Ashley Judd said her mother battled depression for much of her life. “When we’re talking about mental illness,” Judd told Good Morning America, “it’s very important, and to be clear and to make the distinction between our loved one and the disease.” Her mother and sister had performed only weeks before the suicide. “Our mother just couldn’t hang on…that is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her.” The matriarch Judd had long been open about her struggles with depression and the feeling that the only time she really felt like her life had value is when she was on stage performing.

Famous men and women who have succumbed to suicide include comedian Robin Williams, food critic and personality Anthony Bourdain, iconic author Ernest Hemingway, writer, critic and satirist Dorothy Parker and writer, poet Sylvia Plath. Former Denver Bronco Shane Dronett and Hall of Fame and San Diego icon Junior Seau also took their own lives. None was shielded from their fate by riches nor fame. But the vast majority of suicide deaths are all but statistically unknown to anyone beyond friends and family.

While depression has a disproportionate impact in suicide, it is also treatable, said Stephanie Thomassen, Denver Chair of NFSP’s Out of the Dark Community Walk. “Mental health should be a top priority alongside taking care of their physical health, as well,” she said. But among Latinos, CDC data state, mental health treatment for depression is often neglected.

Nationally, suicide is the seventh leading cause of death among Latinos. Hispanic men are four times more likely to take their own lives as Hispanic women. Perhaps, more alarming, is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among Latinos ages 15-34 and that suicide attempts for Hispanic girls, grades 9-12, is 30 percent higher than for non-Hispanic White girls in the same age group. The data come from a 2019 study.

In analyzing suicide deaths, the CDC also says that Latinos were 50 percent less likely to have received mental health treatment compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. Poverty levels, said the CDC, were also a factor contributing to psychological stress levels among Latinos.

Depression is a mental health condition that affects an estimated 40 million Americans. While it is a serious health condition, it is also treatable. Its roots can often be traced back to other factors, said Thomassen, including “a combination of life stresses and known risk factors.” Many of the factors connected to suicide have their beginnings in “childhood and adult trauma, substance use, or even chronic physical pain.”

While mental health treatment, for a number of reasons, is not always a choice for individuals living with depression, there are signs to look for if you suspect someone you know who may be dealing with it. “It’s best to reach out to them,” said Thomassen. “See what you can do for them.” That may be something as simple as talking with them, she said.

There are a number of indications that a person may be suffering from a depression that has passed simple ‘blues.’ Among them are severe sadness, mood swings, hopelessness, sleep problems, changes in personality, dangerous or self-harmful behavior or recent trauma or life crisis.

Curiously, suicides actually decreased over the period of the pandemic. Mental health professionals attribute it to an increased focus on mental health and availability of counselling. But since the stabilization of the virus, deaths by suicide have risen again to pre-pandemic levels.

Still, a suicide death also includes collateral damage. Loved ones and friends are often left with a guilt that they didn’t do enough, failed when they should have acted or simply fell short in recognizing the red flags.

“You can break free and not become a victim,” said Thomassen, “by taking care of your own mental health.” If you find yourself getting caught in this whirlpool, talk to someone. “It takes time and work putting love back into yourself…with time and resources we can learn to navigate our life the best way we can.”

If you suspect a friend or loved one may be considering or displaying self-harming behavior, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day. It can be reached at 800.273.8255. There is also a Crisis Textline that can be reached by texting ‘TALK’ at 741741. Beginning July 16th, 2022, said Thomassen, “anyone in need can call 988 which will connect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.”