LOCAL FEATURE FINDING OFF-STREET PARKING To avoid parking tickets, Jenkins and Carter explored renting space at an RV park. The cheapest they could find was $900 a month, but Jenkins felt it was a “shady” deal. He said a decent one costs $1,400 a month, which was outside of their budget. Eventually, they were lucky to receive an invitation from a friend to park on private property in Northeast Denver. This has ended their run-ins with law enforcement, and now, the two consider the RV their tiny home. “I love living in our RV,” Carter said. “We had to simplify our lives to make it work. We had to get rid of almost everything because there is [little] storage, but it works for us.” ALWAYS A RISK OF LOSING A HOME In addition to the stress and ticket fees, RV owners experiencing homelessness face other costs like licensing and insurance, which can put housing even further out of reach. “A lot of these vehicles don’t run, and the ones that do are in constant need of repairs and money to fix them.” Barczak said. And leaving a vehicle, even if it’s to get services or health care, can result in a vehicle being towed. When an RV is unattended, it could be considered an abandoned vehicle. As the Denver Police Department media relations unit explained, if a vehicle has been determined to be abandoned, they issue a Notice of Abandoned Vehicle and route the information to the Denver Sheriff’s Department Impound, Abandoned Vehicle Unit. The department does not track how many complaints come in about RVs on Denver streets because there is not a specific nature code in the dispatch system, they added. According to Barczak, the threat of being towed prevents some individuals from coming to Stout Street Health Clinic for medical care or other services. “I’ve had clients whose vehicles were towed while they were meeting with me for two hours at the clinic,” Barczak said. “They come back, and their vehicle is gone. [They lose] that last little bit of safety and privacy.” RV LIVING AND LOST OPPORTUNITIES The requirement to move a vehicle every 72 hours can cause Barczak and the Coalition to lose track of individuals. “[When individuals move their campers] it makes it very difficult for people to access services. By being forced to move every couple of days, they have to keep starting over, and starting over, and starting over,” Barczak said. “We have people every day that qualify for housing vouchers. We have maybe two weeks to find them, or the voucher goes on to someone else, and they lose this opportunity because they’re having to constantly move around.” According to the DPD media relations unit, DPD officers can request the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) unit to engage unhoused individuals living in RVs, rather than directly engaging and issuing citations. The STAR program is a specially trained unit that sends mental health specialists or paramedics to respond to nonviolent situations. The unit, founded in 2020, is designed to “engage individuals experiencing crises related to mental health issues, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse,” according to its website. During several months of conducting research and interviewing individuals at multiple RV camping locations for this article, none of the individuals who spoke to Denver VOICE had been contacted by the STAR unit. Instead, many of these individuals reported being harassed by on-duty officers Jeff Landis said he had been heavily monitored and harassed by one specific officer but did not want to give the officer’s name for fear of future retaliation. Not all interactions with officers were negative, though. Josh, who asked to be identified by only his first name for DEVINE CARTER AND HER PARTNER CORNELIUS JENKINS HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THEIR 22-FOOT TRAILER FOR OVER 18 MONTHS. “Each lot has a lot of autonomy [to decide who can park and for how long],” CSPI Executive Director Terrell Curtis said. “Right now, they only operate overnight and the vehicles leave in the morning, and that makes it a lot harder with an RV.” Curtis said it is unreasonable to expect unhoused individuals to get off the street on their own, and this expectation comes from a level of ‘privilege’ that is out of touch with the realities of homelessness. “We need to shift our systems and lower barriers to accessing housing,” Curtis said. “There are shelters and affordable housing that you can’t go to if you have some sort of criminal background or drug offense. Most shelters also don’t allow pets. We need to be realistic about the needs. You’re going to be lucky if you can get into housing.” CSPI does not currently have a lot dedicated to RVs, and not all lots allow RVs to utilize the service. October 2022 DENVER VOICE 7 LANDIS HAS USED MANY CREATIVE APPROACHES TO REPAIR HIS CAMPER OVER TIME. Carter spends many nights on the phone with her mother who has dementia. It isn’t uncommon for them to have the same conversation multiple times in an hour. Carter is glad she can be there for her mom and plans to remain in Denver as long as her mom needs her. Eventually, Jenkins and Carter are hoping to find a permanent home – one without wheels. They just don’t think it will be in Denver. Jenkins’ job allows him to transfer to other locations throughout the country. They are looking at Detroit, or possibly Arizona. Someplace with lower housing costs. Jenkins and Carter worry that leaving Denver will make it harder for them to help their children and Carter’s mother. “We got the same problems as people in a house,” Carter said. “We just do it in a smaller place.” ■ privacy reasons, said a DPD officer helped him when he was unable to start his RV. The police officer had Josh’s camper towed to another location at no charge. According to Josh, the officer thought the new location would be a safe place to park while the vehicle was being repaired. TRYING TO REBUILD Jenkins is proud of what he has accomplished. He carries around a black binder with all the licenses and credentials he earned while running his small construction company. It even has letters from the days he worked for Marriott Hotels, including one offering him a job with a six-figure salary to oversee the maintenance of multiple hotels. He has misgivings about not taking the security that comes with a corporate job. He had been told all his life that true prosperity came through owning a small business. Jenkins thought his finances were improving, but then, the pandemic hit, and his son’s mental health became a bigger issue. “I always say I have been rich twice and I have been poor twice. But I don’t know if there is any coming back from this,” Jenkins said. Jenkins now works full-time for a car parts company. Carter works full time, too, but their combined income isn’t enough to come up with a deposit and pay rent. SEEKING A NEW OPTION One organization working towards a solution for individuals living in RVs is the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, which offers overnight parking for individuals living in vehicles throughout the front range. The organization partners with faith-based organizations and businesses to provide overnight parking at 12 different locations throughout the metro area. Every vehicle must move in the morning because the current lots are used by the host locations for business or programming purposes. “We want to [open a parking lot specifically for RVs] because there is such a high need,” Curtis said. “The City of Denver zoning allows it, but it falls under an ordinance [governing] trailer parks. If we provide for several RV-type vehicles together in a space, it is considered a trailer park, and we have to provide dump stations, electric hookups, and all this other stuff that we’re not in a position to do right now.” CSPI was awarded a $150,000 contract from the city to operate a parking site and to explore providing an RVspecific lot. But the unique requirements of zoning laws for mobile homes and trailers may not make a lot dedicated to RVs feasible. Many of those who park at CSPI have jobs and are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Most are trying to work while actively seeking permanent housing – all while trying to stay safe without running afoul of the law. “There is trauma that comes with the uncertainty when you’re living on the edge,” Curtis said. “You’re trying to stay warm; you’re trying to stay cool, and you’re trying to get to work and not look like you spent the night in your car. That level of anxiety wears on you. Living in a heightened state over time is damaging. Even just one night would be traumatic, especially over time. It can impact folks’ reslience.” Individuals staying in a safe parking lot do have the security of being in the same place every evening. This makes accessing case managers from different service providers easier. FOCUSING ON FAMILY Carter and Jenkins are the hub of a big family. From time to time, Carter and Jenkins’s children and grandchildren come by. “We don’t want anyone to treat us any differently,” Jenkins said. “When the grandkids come by, they go straight for the fridge looking for treats.” “They clean us out,” Carter said laughing.
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