Denver Shelter Statistics Dispute Lakewood’s Claims to Safety

One of the main claims Lakewood made in regards to the new Navigation Center homeless shelter, was that crime does not increase around shelters.

A recent article from Denver shows disputes that claim….

Crime calls up 2,900% at hotel converted to homeless shelter in Denver

“In the first three months after the City of Denver converted a hotel in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood to a shelter for the homeless, calls for police and first responders rose 2,900% compared to the previous three months when it served as a hotel, according to city data obtained by CBS News Colorado.” Read more…

An important note is the Denver article is that Cole Chandler, Denver Mayor Michael Johnston’s senior adviser on homelessness, said that “residents are also being educated on relying less on calling 911 for various issues.”

Lakewood police have already encouraged local food banks to manage trespassing calls on their own. Deprioritizing crimes associated with homelessness is a policy defended by Lakewood officials.

If crime does rise around the navigation center, Lakewood residents may be on their own.

However, the new Lakewood shelter is in an area with historically high crime so it is unlikely a rise in crime will be noticed, especially since it will have been operating as an “emergency” shelter on and off throughout the winter.

Shoutout to News For Reasonable People for bringing Denver’s issue to attention