Uncategorized Archives - Page 22 of 33

Lakewood Dismissing Low-Level Offenses

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on January 5, 2024.

Putting someone in jail for a low-level municipal offense is an unsatisfactory answer for people who believe jail is ineffective or harsh. Since jail is often the mandated penalty, Lakewood may take the “compassionate” route and dismiss the case if the alleged offender visits Community Outreach Court. The de facto penalty is then talking to housing and job providers, which isn’t a penalty but a helping hand. The result is dismissing all warrants for Failure To Appear in court, and often dismissing the original charge as well.

Charges that are often dismissed:

Having an open container
Sleeping in a public park
Shoplifting
Trespassing
Simple assault
Possession of drug paraphernalia
Indecent exposure (public urination)
Failure to Appear in court

Lakewood is working to reach out to the homeless community to bring them to Outreach Court. Lakewood homeless navigators and community members spread the word that if you come to court your warrants will be forgiven and your original case may be dismissed.

Is the law effective if Lakewood forgives all the cases?

Having a law that everyone knows will be dismissed is not an effective deterrent. In one case, an offender admitted to ongoing trespassing but because she talked to resource providers, thereby fulfilling the terms of the original trespass case, everything was dismissed.

Jail may be viewed as unreasonably harsh for unhoused individuals because they could lose their meager possessions with one overnight stay. There are arguments that jail is ineffective for anyone and low-level offenses are not worthy of jail. Another argument is that if you are trespassing (for example) because you are homeless, are you really committing a crime or being punished because you are homeless?

Being homeless is not a crime but dismissing these “crimes of homelessness” has consequences such as:

Effectively making the city a homeless sanctuary
Changing the public perception of how Lakewood enforces its own laws
Lowering effectiveness of law enforcement and justice system, as judged by cutting crime

There is opportunity for discussion here.

Do Lakewood residents believe that low-level offenses should not be punished? – Repeal the law
Is jail too harsh? – Modify for alternatives (For example, community service)
Is community service too hard to find? – Extend opportunities outside of non-profit service

Whether penalized with jail or having the case dismissed, the court is not responsible for an individuals housing. However, that is a role the court is taking on by acting as resource coordinator. The Court continues to work for grants for homeless and housing.

Community Outreach Court is presided over by Municipal Judge Nicole Bozarth, who was the only candidate for Municipal Judge on the 2023 ballot. She was previously appointed to the position in June 2022.

Reader Recommended Business: a SAFE HOME Gas Fireplace Service

Denver Metro rent inflation worse than any major city!

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on January 4, 2024.

Cross-Post By SaveBelmarPark.com (updated to correct “by Save Belmar Park Community Action”)

Metro Denver apartment rent inflation has outstripped income gains by a higher margin than in any other major city in the U.S. since 2009, according to a study from Clever Real Estate subsidiary Real Estate Witch.

From 2009-2021 rents in the Denver area have increased 82%!

In an amazing coincidence, numerous national landlords active in the Denver area apartment market have been named in an alleged nation-wide rent gouging scheme in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

These landlords are accused of sharing pricing data and using a common software package called RealPage to set rent levels and eliminate price competition on rent.

All defendants deny wrongdoing and are vigorously defending against these unproven allegations.

One of these landlords, Kairoi Management aka Kairoi Residential, is also the developer of the habitat-destroying Belmar Park West apartment complex.

Despite the widely available public information regarding Denver area rent inflation and alleged illegal wide spread rent collusion, Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan pegs annual rent inflation at only 3%!

It almost seems as if Lakewood is hiding something. But what?

Is Lakewood aware that some people may be unhoused due to (alleged) illegal rent gouging?

What does Lakewood plan to do if defendants do not prevail and have to pay significant damages? If Kairoi can’t pay the damages and also fund 777 S Yarrow construction, will they abandon the 777 S Yarrow project and leave an unfinished construction project? What then?

Maybe Lakewood should require audited financial statements from all developers in the city including private companies such as Kairoi? And require financial reserves sufficient to survive any major lawsuits.

Kairoi sells limited partnership investments in the form of unregistered securities. Once a building is completed, they sell it a few years down the road and close out the partnerships. Like the Edison building that sold in 2019.

Suppose they have to pay damages to former tenants of the Edison building. Will the former limited partners be willing to pay those damages? Not likely. Can they then assess those damages to partners in another building. Not likely. Yes, this is speculation. But it will not end well.

How did these companies get into this mess? My guess, this is only that, is that at least some of these entities ignored legal advice. There is a long list of defendants. Do you seriously think none of them asked their staff attorney(s) for advice regarding their use of the RealPage software?

Don’t assume their business insurance will cover it. Some defendants are already complaining their insurance will not pay their legal fees.

Here is a partial list of the parties included in the combined rent gouging lawsuits:

ALLIED ORION GROUP, LLC, Defendant

Apartment Income REIT Corp, Defendant

Apartment Management Consultants, LLC, Defendant

Avenue5 Residential, LLC, Defendant

B/T Washington LLC, Defendant

BH Management Services, LLC, Defendant

Bell Partners Inc., Defendant

Bozzuto Management Company, Defendant

Brookfield Properties Multifamily LLC, Defendant

CH Real Estate Services LLC, Defendant

CONAM Management Corporation, Defendant

CONTI Texas Organization, Inc., d/b/a CONTI Capital, Defendant

CWS Apartment Homes LLC, Defendant

Camden Property Trust, Defendant

Conti Capital, Defendant

Cortland Management, LLC, Defendant

Crow Holdings, LP, Defendant

Dayrise Residential, LLC, Defendant

ECI Group, Inc., Defendant

ECI Management, LLC, Defendant

Equity Residential, Defendant

Essex Property Trust, Inc., Defendant

FPI Management, Inc., Defendant

Greystar Management Services, L.P., Defendant

Greystar Management Services, LLC, Defendant

Highmark Residential, LLC, Defendant

Independence Realty Trust, Inc., Defendant

Kairoi Management, LLC, Defendant

Knightvest Residential, Defendant

Lantower Luxury Living LLC, Defendant

Lincoln Property Company, Defendant

Lyon Management Group, Inc., Defendant

MidAmerica Apartment Communities, Inc., Defendant

Mission Rock Residential, LLC, Defendant

Morgan Properties Management Company, LLC, Defendant

Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC, Defendant

Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc., Defendant

RPM Living, LLC, Defendant

RealPage, Inc., Defendant

Related Management Company L.P., Defendant

Rose Associates Inc, Defendant

Sares Regis Group Commercial, Inc., Defendant

Security Properties Inc., Defendant

Security Properties Residential, LLC, Defendant

Sherman Associates, Inc., Defendant

Simpson Property Group, LLC, Defendant

TF Cornerstone Inc, Defendant

THOMA BRAVO, L.P., Defendant

The Related Companies L.P., Defendant

Thoma Bravo Fund XIII, L.P., Defendant

Thoma Bravo Fund XIV, L.P., Defendant

Thrive Communities Management, LLC, Defendant

Trammell Crow Residential Company, Defendant

UDR, Inc., Defendant

WINNCOMPANIES LLC, Defendant

Windsor Property Management Company, Defendant

WinnResidential Manager Corp., Defendant

ZRS Management, LLC, Defendant

United States of America, Interested Party

Joshua Kabisch, Plaintiff

The list may contain errors, be incomplete or may not reflect recent changes.

Please attend Lakewood City Council Meetings and convey your concerns.

https://www.lakewood.org/Government/Upcoming-City-Meetings

And please remember to ask that Lakewood acquire the parking area at 777 S Yarrow St via Eminent Domain to establish that buffer space with the park.

Visit SaveBelmarPark.com

Fees for Park Land Static Since 2018

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on January 1, 2024.

The development near Belmar Park, on 777 S Yarrow, has brought into focus the “fee in lieu” provision of Lakewood, Colorado’s Municipal Code L.M.C. 14.16.010. These fees have not been reviewed, or changed, since 2018, resulting in potential under-compensation to the city. Historically developers have had to provide park land for their residents to use. The fee was instead of park land. Existing Lakewood parks would provide park services for the new development.

In light of the confusion regarding the fee in lieu of land dedication/policy the following was sent out to Council and staff on Dec. 31, 2023:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lenore Herskovitz <[email protected]>
Date: December 31, 2023 at 2:56:12 PM MST
To: Wendi Strom <[email protected]>, [email protected], Kathy Hodgson <[email protected]>, Travis Parker <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Fwd: land dedication fee in lieu

“I don’t know if you’ve seen this before but this is the fee that was set by Director of Community Resources in 2018. The fee is determined by the Director. The ordinance was supposed to have been reviewed by Council no later than Dec. 31, 2023. Also, the fee is due at the time of site plan approval or can be delayed by the Director (Kit Newland) until building permit issuance. The amount to be paid shall be the fee in effect at the time of payment (although it is interesting to note that the fee mentioned in the document expired on Dec. 31, 2019). As far as I know, the fee has not yet been paid. There has been misinformation sent out by the planning department stating “the city staff cannot change this valuation without an act of Council”. However, 14.16.07B of the 2018 document says that the Director shall set the fee equal to fair market value…The only job of Council right now is to review this ordinance. Why was this not placed on the agenda months ago? Staff should have been well aware that this needed to be addressed before the end of the year and it should have been posted. Former Councilor Springsteen mentioned this in October and no action was taken. Why are we updating fees so rarely? Prior to 2018, the only ordinance addressing this was passed in 1983. Obviously, property values fluctuate greatly and fair market values should reflect that. How much potential revenue have we lost over the years due to this antiquated system of determining fees? Council should review this ordinance at the next scheduled meeting and alter the terms as needed.”

See ordinance and policy letter below:

parkland-dedications-final Download

Migrants and Housing

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 30, 2023.

Lakewood, Colorado may decide to lessen deportation fears for migrants as part of its affordable housing strategy.

The single sentence from the study suggests “proactively addressing fears in the community about public charge and deportation.”

From Lakewood Strategic Housing Plan, pg 26 (highlight added)

Presentation explained that this means lessening deportation fears, so that people in a difficult housing situation did not feel compelled to leave any stability they may have found.

However, immigration status is polarizing the nation, and in the context of the other housing assistance options, this discussion may require extra time or this single sentence may be interpreted as new policy.

No questions or comments regarding this particular item were brought forth by Lakewood City Council so no details are available.

Lakewood to Propose a Homeless Shelter in Public School Building

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 29, 2023.

Correction, Jan 18, 2024: The unnamed, closed Jefferson County school was not proposed as a homeless shelter but as a new location for the Jeffco Action Center which offers hardship services. Increased housing for the homeless would then be available and Lakewood would have a presence in two Action Center buildings. Plans are not final, but discussions have been started. More details have not been brought before Council yet.

Correction: Services, Not Shelter, to Move to Jeffco School

Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) researched the possibilities of redeveloping vacant or underutilized land for affordable housing. For example, there are many vacant commercial sites that could be used for new affordable units. The SHP currently does not have details, rather the plan is ready for further research and public discussion. However, Lakewood City Manager Hodgson says that by listening carefully to City Councilors, city staff could anticipate that this item was of particular interest so staff has started work.

Towards that goal, Lakewood staff already has a proposal to work collaboratively to house homeless in a closed Jeffco school in Lakewood. That project includes working with the Jeffco Action Center to provide shelter in these already controversial neighborhood sites. Financial incentives may be available from the city.

This proposal will be coming to Council for approval soon, with no other details provided by Hodgson, as announced in the December 18 study session.

Public comment shows people want further discussion regarding sheltering the unhoused in a school, but city staff believe they have enough tacit approval from City Council that they have proceeded with their plans. Under the option for repurposing existing buildings for affordable housing, the city will not require a separate discussion for this topic, outside of plan adoption, although public comment would be available if there is a separate proposal.

Although the people who live in those highly residential areas may not want a homeless shelter next door, the city has an answer to that: Public comment is over-represented by affluent long-term homeowners (link added 2/11/24). The argument that owners of single-family residences are generally rich, white people who are over-represented in their city council meetings is laid out in the Harvard Law Review paper to show affordable housing is a right.

Sidenote: City Manager Kathy Hodgson and Mayor Wendi Strom have studied government at Harvard University.

The city survey correlated how long residents have lived in Lakewood with survey responses in order to pit residents against each other, in what seems to be a continuing conversation of older residents versus younger residents. For example, it has been suggested during the demographic study that residents “ageing in place” contribute to taking up valuable housing stock that would otherwise be “affordable.”

From Lakewood Strategic Housing Plan presentation

Destabilizing neighborhoods by changing their use or density may prove a base assumption of the plan. The SHP depends on residents that have enough money moving out of their existing homes and moving into the newly created market-rate apartments. The move would allow for the existing housing stock that was vacated to be used for those less fortunate. Housing migration is a critical component to a successful market-rate overstock policy implementation. (Hattip Ditson)

Correction: Study date changed from Dec 19th to 18th

Not Affordable: More Market-Rate Housing Coming to Lakewood

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 29, 2023.

Newly elected Lakewood City Council Member Isabel Cruz says increasing housing supply has led to higher rents and gentrification of her area, Ward 2. However, Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) says the opposite will happen in the future, that increasing overall supply will decrease rents, especially in areas of high homeless population such as Ward 2. The plan depends on the theory that more market-rate housing will create affordable housing in an indirect way that has not been proven in Lakewood. This discrepancy between theory and observable experience was not resolved before Lakewood City Council agreed to move forward with the plan as proposed on December 18, 2023.

Following SHP recommendations will:

Incentivize market-rate, high-density, low-parking apartments for middle- to higher-income residents
Enable pallet homes and create homeless shelters, possibly in a closed Jeffco school, for very-low income residents
Fund these programs with city tax dollars
Enable housing opportunities for low- to middle-income residents when residents vacate existing housing

This plan to recommend more development was created by a group largely comprised of developers, along with city staff. Only one “active resident” is listed (Hattip Hasfjord – see SHP pg 3)

Many of the details needed to understand how the plan will impact Lakewood are missing from the plan. Council Member Mayott-Guerrero explained in the very beginning that passing the plan is just the first step for being able to really dig into the details and research this plan. City Manager Hodgson apparently disagrees. She says that staff has been listening to what Council wants and has been acting on those desires by developing project specific proposals.

The detailed project proposals were developed without public input or vote by Council on what their priorities will be. The proposals will be ready for Council approval as soon as the plan can be passed.

The goal would be to move quickly. Hodgson already has a specific bank and funding options researched to start incentivizing development as soon as first quarter 2024.

That seemed to be exactly what Councilor Stewart wanted to hear. As current chair of the Budget and Audit Board, she asked for options to begin adding to the budget immediately (normal budget procedure would be to pass new options in fourth quarter 2024). She also pointed out that her proposals for the Lakewood Planning Commission to research loosening Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) regulations would help move the SHP forward.

These are big changes that the public has been told will have the opportunity for further discussion. However, having proposals ready to be approved is different than ready for public participation. Several mentions of the “housing emergency” and “needing to move quickly” suggests the rubber stamp process may be implied with the passing of the plan.

For example, combining current ADU research, zoning code rewrites that are almost completed by staff (not publicly available) and past precedent for using city funds, Lakewood could start accelerating ADU development within first quarter 2024 by directly paying for water tap fees.

Although the word “subsidy” is rarely used, Lakewood has paid in the past for public infrastructure “gap funding” for water tap fees through the Lakewood Community Block Grant. These tap fees are the biggest hurdle for ADU development so increased funding or subsidizes could greatly increase development.

Just the change in ADU development, effectively changing all R1 into R2 zoning, would double the housing density of Lakewood.

As the Strategic Housing Study found, it is not possible at today’s construction costs to develop new housing at less than market rate. Lakewood will not and cannot develop apartments that are more affordable – the government is not a developer. The Strategic Housing Plan does not guarantee new affordable housing but rather makes new market-rate housing available for higher income residents to move into, thereby increasing housing migration, with the hope that older affordable units will open up (Hattip Ditson).

This plan will increase market-rate housing by offering incentives including:

Public funding for developers and housing assistance for individuals
Relaxed regulations such as decreased parking requirements and the ability for pallet homes
An easier permit process and expedited assistance

Correction: Study date changed from Dec 19th to 18th

Residents Will Pay For Development

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 29, 2023.

One recommendation from Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) is to incentivize development with city funds. A variety of costs and methods are discussed. Specific spending decisions have not been made but City Manager Hodgson says staff is ready with a proposal to work with the Community First Foundation in a donor-advised fund. Funds could be ready as early as first quarter 2024. Hodgson suggested a starting amount of $500,000.

In most cases, direct funding would not be economical so available funds could be used to leverage other funds. For example, city funds could match against other government grants for development.

There are significant other costs proposed:

Increased staff costs
Increased administrative costs
Rebating city property taxes
Waiving permit costs
Paying for property damage
Increasing city funds for direct housing vouchers
Utilizing resident TABOR refunds
Non-direct costs such as impacts of loosened parking requirements

The other favored source of proposed funding would be from an increase to the Accommodation Tax (currently 3%). This hidden tax increase would have far-reaching effects:

Proposed changes would almost double the tax
Increased taxing makes it less economical for hotels, so would therefore decreases hotel viability. Hotels drive other tourism-based businesses.
Increased hotel fees make Short-Term Rentals (STRs) more attractive since they are immune to the tax.
Increased STRs contributes to needing more housing which will need more financial housing incentives while driving down the business that is providing the funding.

The reason for the accommodation tax in the first place was to fuel economic development but that purpose has been modified for public safety by Lakewood City Council.

The city has previously made funds available through the Community Block Grant Fund to pay for infrastructure costs for development. One benefit of having a new fund with the Community First Foundation would be that funds would be immediately available on the developers’ schedule, rather than waiting until grant approval time.

The indirect costs of increased residential services and decreased business opportunities cannot be directly calculated so are not considered.

It’s Not the Affordable Housing

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 9, 2023.

Guest post from Alex Plotkin

A recent article by RMPBS calls out the effects of the failed policies of the Colorado local and state politicians, but it incorrectly singles out the cause of the issue. It’s not just the affordable housing, but a whole slew of factors which have set up some of the Colorado communities for the failures that are starting to manifest. As is often the case, the local and state politicians are behind the curve on seeing the true cause of the problem, which they, in part might have created due to their short-sighted (and, in some cases, dubious) policies.

Instead of creating zoning and building standards which would have dictated the build out of diverse communities where localized, well-paying employment opportunities would be collocated with a variety of housing and educational opportunities, public transit and amenities which would attract a variety of skilled professionals at various stages of life, a number of communities in Colorado will be passed over on the way to locales which are proactively working on setting up their communities for the challenges that are rapidly coming our way.

In Lakewood, specifically, the government has chosen to foster the build out of metro districts and rentals, focusing on the means of extracting profit from those who live there, instead of creating well-paying, localized employment opportunities for the high-skill professionals, who, instead have moved on to other areas for employment, resulting in large parts of Lakewood being economically stagnant. This, in turn is already resulting in death spiral of fewer families, businesses struggling or closing and the schools having to be closed due to fewer children being in the area (see this article for more)

Lakewood is not unique in their failures – as pointed out in the RMPBS article, whole swaths of the state are now setup to tumble down the road of losing out on more and more skilled/educated workers, younger families and a stable base of employment to enable a healthy and diverse economy.

The problem is not just about the housing – it is a lot more complicated than that. For one, more desirable locales usually result in higher cost of housing. The question then becomes – how do you make housing more attainable?

One of the ways is to enable more economic opportunity which would enable higher wages for those trying to secure housing. Furthermore, once a local economic engine is firing, that creates a positive knock-on effect, whereby the surplus tax revenue might be used to subsidize housing for those who are vital to the community (i.e. janitors, nurses, teaches, etc.), but may not have the market-dictated wages to pay for the housing.

The RMPBS article points out that in Denver one now needs a $160,000 income to be able to semi-comfortably afford a home. So, what are the local politicians in the aforementioned counties doing to bring in jobs which provide such income?

This is one of many areas in which Jefferson County in particular has been failing, miserably. Their officials have been proactively rezoning properties originally slated for economic-and-education-oriented development in to residential (largely, rental and metro district to boot). This not only destroys the economic potential, but also further stresses the county finances as residential units generally cost money to provide services to Colorado (as has been stated by Lakewood former city attorney and the documents provided by the developer for the Red Rocks Ranch). Yet, over and over again, JeffCo officials have supported such rezoning and development, instead of figuring out a way to bring in higher paying, localized employment. (see this article for more)

The failures of the past are now leading to more failures in real time. The federal government has recently announced that it will be providing billions of dollars to invest in high-tech development.

Yet, since JeffCo, at large has failed to champion any meaningful high-tech development to begin with, guess where those billions are not going to be invested? Golden may catch some loose change, due to the School of Mines presence, but the rest of JeffCo (especially, Lakewood) – not likely. Hence, in some parts of Colorado, one might argue, the economic death spiral is already in motion.

To add an insult to the injury, JeffCo has largely failed to champion a development of functional public transit. To be fair, so has Colorado at large. RTD is a massive failure, compared to even the relatively less well-off countries such as Czech Republic. No, RTD is nowhere close to being a remotely good value for the dollars spent, if one actually looks at data. Some politicians in Colorado love to drone on about data, yet, they frequently fail to look at metrics from world-renowned sources such as OECD and IPCC, instead falling back on the talking points fed to them by their campaign backers.

Otherwise, why would Colorado have such abysmal rates of public transit ridership?

We get ever more traffic, more pollution, and more and more cookie-cutter rentals, which were never meant for families to live in, a lot of which are owned by corporations, which may or may not have been engaging in collusion to set the rent prices and some of which are already embroiled in a lawsuit.

“RealPage’s clients include some of the largest property managers in the country. Many favor cities where rent has been rising rapidly, according to a ProPublica analysis of five of the country’s top 10 property managers as of 2020. All five use RealPage pricing software in at least some buildings, and together they control thousands of apartments in metro areas such as Denver, Nashville, Atlanta and Seattle, where rents for a typical two-bedroom apartment rose 30% or more between 2014 and 2019.”

Meanwhile, failing to creating conditions to drive the success of more people. Not working on ways for those who would think of starting a family, to be able to do so without drowning financially.

And here is another thing to consider for those constantly claiming that work from home is a savior. It’s not.

And those are just the short term effects to consider. Longer term, it may get far worse:

“Artificial intelligence also is expected to eliminate some positions entirely. Mr. Krishna, of IBM, has said in recent weeks that he could see 30% of IBM’s roughly 26,000 non-customer-facing roles being replaced by automation or AI over a 5-year period.”

We are just starting to see the failures resulting from the shortsighted policies of last couple of decades. Instead of engaging in truly open conversation with the public to see how the public should be helped to succeed in the even more adverse economic and environmental events to come, the local and state politicians are doubling down on enabling the last vestiges of profits for the big money interests at further detriment to the citizens at various socioeconomic levels.

Perhaps, sooner than later, a majority of the citizens will start to realize who put them in the dire straits they are in. Some already are.

The next step would be for the citizens to realize that it is their elected officials who have enabled the types of development, for over a decade now, which have enabled the backsliding of thousands (or is it now millions?) of people in to becoming de-facto rent (and metro-district) financial serfs. Instead of having more economic opportunities and more equitable conditions which may enable those wanting a family, to start one.

The Lures of Lakewood

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on December 7, 2023.

Guest post from Joan from Lakewood

So the progressive Leadership of Lakewood maintained its position after the November 7 election. Congratulations Mayor Strom. But there is a crack in the smooth surface in Lakewood. An unknown politically naive man with no name recognition or political history came in second with 30 percent of the vote. This was dismissed by the winning party as an awful MAGA uprise and not to be considered. But I contend it is the symptom of the growing anger of the citizens of Lakewood over policies that have ignored public input (see the Save Belmar Park people)

But consider this, Arvada has recently rejected the monies from the county to open a negotiation center in the city. And is not developing policies and programs that will attract the unhoused into their community. Meanwhile Lakewood takes 7 million of Jefferson County funds (funds from the Federal Infrastructure Act) to open a recovery/navigation center

And makes itself more welcoming to unhoused individuals by opening and celebrating new programs.

Editor’s note: It is unconfirmed if County/Federal money will be filtered through Lakewood or go directly to RecoveryWorks.

On November 29, there was a church/community meeting to roll out a “Safe to Park” program in the parking lot of Phillips United Methodist church at 1450 S Pierce St, This program will allow people living in their cars to have permission to park in 4 spaces on the church parking lot. This program is designed to work with the services of Lakewood and there is an MOU that was referred to by the church leadership.(This is similar to a program operated by Lakewood United Methodist Church) My main concern was the cars (no RVs or trailers) are required to spend 4 nights a week in their parking spaces. But must leave between 8am to 6pm and there is no access to running water. Where will they go during the day? And When I asked where would these people would shower, the church leadership stated they are working out an arrangement with the Lakewood Link Recreation center.

This policy was developed by a church homeless committee that passed its approval by a 4 to 3 vote. It is being put in place without a congregational vote. The reasoning is that the homeless are already here so we must do something.

I think the most profound statement during this meeting was from a young father with two young children that stated that he was worried that this would lure more people to come into the neighborhood and park and sleep in their cars on public streets around Lasley Park.

The next night, November 30, I attended an open house of the navigation center, located at 8000 West Colfax Avenue (Allison St and Colfax). This building is being developed in partnership with Recovery Works (a rent to own program) and will house 100 beds for those in need of housing. There were several government officials there and it was a general celebration of the opening of this the First Navigation Center in Lakewood. The mission would be supported by government services. There would be the DMV coming in once a month to help people get driver’s licenses. And medical services. As well as job counseling.

But I came to realize that this was more than a celebration. It actually was a fundraiser for Recovery Works. There was a long speech of how great this is but it is going to take money. Lots of money. And because the legislature in 2022 passed a bill (that allows 25 percent of private donations to homeless non profits to be used for a tax credit and one could donate up to $100,000 which would create a tax credit of $25,000 which could be used over a 5 year period.

This explained the crowd of lawyers and retired members of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. And the trays of Sushi.

And when asked to vote on the new name for the Center with the West Colfax Community Navigation Center being one of the suggestions. I wrote on a sticky “The Lakewood Lure”