COMMUNITY PROFILE SECOND CHANCES IN A TINY HOME VILLAGE BY PAULA BARD TAMMY “With this COVID thing, everything got harder.” A NATURAL STORY-TELLER, her face brightens with a mischievous smile. Tammy is a self-styled hippie in her late 50s. She came out to Aspen from New York in the early ‘80s to be a ski bum and stayed, because, as she explained, “I loved the sun!” She worked as a nurse in Capitol Hill for years, often commuting to her teepee near Deckers while volunteering with environmental groups. She and her husband traveled to Rainbow Gatherings all over the country, giving her “lots of practice in intentional community living.” She feels prepared to handle her new communal life in the Women’s Village at Clara Brown Commons, Denver’s second tiny home village. Tammy was struggling before the pandemic. A longtime CREDIT: PAULA BARD ICU nurse for PresbyterianSt. Luke’s, she had always worked the night shift. After her second husband died, Tammy just didn’t have it in her to keep it up. She took a job working on the 16th Street Mall at a medical clinic but could no longer afford housing in Denver’s skyrocketing rental market. To survive, she began sleeping in her broken truck while it was parked at a friend’s house in Lakewood. Then the clinic closed when the pandemic hit last spring. “I was saving money to fix the transmission, keeping it in my friend’s driveway. I would take the last bus out of Denver to Lakewood and sleep in my car at night. My friend didn’t know I was sleeping in it. But then it needed more repairs than a transmission; I couldn’t afford it. So last summer I stored it up in RINO, but then it got stolen. No insurance.” Tammy camped out in Lakewood all summer, often under her tarp with a sleeping bag, to avoid being seen. She camped along the RTD W line and in Belmar. “I was getting unemployment, but then they changed the website, and I stopped getting it.” Finally, in late fall, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless hooked her up with the opening of the Women’s Village. In early December, she moved in. This new stability has allowed Tammy, a restless soul, to look forward to joining some friends putting together an organic farm. She now muses about getting her Airstream trailer outfitted for travel, teaching yoga, and dispensing medical herbs. She is currently involved in an online yoga certification program. Eager to get on with her life, she just needs a running truck to carry the rig. VALARIE “It’s good that we help each other out here, and it feels supportive, you know – you get a second chance.” VALARIE AND HER TWO DOGS joined the Women’s Village recently after her heart surgery. She is recovering and feeling optimistic. She has welcomed the support in the village. Originally from Denver, Valarie worked for an AARP community center supervising the kitchen, which closed during the pandemic. She really likes working with seniors and hopes to go back when she has recovered – and they reopen. As a woman in her 60s, she is very aware of the rough road for the elderly in today’s economy, having lived it herself. “Things happen you know, I mean ... everybody knows that half the population is one paycheck away from being homeless.” Valarie ended up on the streets in Denver after her mother died, and their house in Park Hill was sold. “It’s really hard to take care of yourself when you’re out on the streets. To feed yourself. It’s too hard, and especially for women, it’s too hard. Especially for older women it’s much too hard.” She feels grateful to have such a supportive community in the Women’s Village for her recuperation and to be able to have her dogs with her – dogs are not allowed in the shelters. CREDIT: PAULA BARD CREDIT: PAULA BARD 8 DENVER VOICE March 2021
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