If you are on social media, or listen to local media outlets, you have undoubtedly witnessed heated debates and varying opinions about rising concerns of homelessness in Arvada. These include questioning what the City of Arvada is doing to address these issues. In a recent online debate about crime in Arvada and homelessness in Olde Town, one Facebook user went so far as to accuse a member of city council of coordinating with a local church to transport individuals experiencing homelessness from other jurisdictions to Arvada for services.

In this article, Arvada Today digs into the following questions:

• Does the City of Arvada participate in any program which facilitates the transportation of unhoused individuals from other jurisdictions to the City of Arvada for the purpose of providing social services?
• What the city is doing to address community concerns

Question: Does the City of Arvada participate in any program which facilitates the transportation of unhoused individuals from other jurisdictions to the City of Arvada for the purpose of providing social services?

Answer: No. After reviewing the Facebook thread, there was no response from the individuals making these allegations or from the user who claimed to have witnessed a “caravan of busses” after being asked for their source of this information. The Arvada City Council member accused of coordinating these events responded to the thread, denying any such incident ever took place and categorized the allegations of “patently false”.

Arvada Today reached out to the city staff to enquire if there were any truth to these claims and if the city participated in any such program, even on a small scale. Detective David Snelling, Public Information Officer with the City of Arvada Police Department (APD) responded to the enquire. Detective Snelling explained the City of Arvada has never participated in any sanctioned effort to provide transportation for unhoused individuals to travel to Arvada from other jurisdictions for the purpose of receiving social services.

Question: What is the City of Arvada doing to address community concerns in reference to crime and homelessness?

Answer: The City of Arvada, along with cities across the United States are working to develop a holistic approach to addressing community concerns and assisting members of the community experiencing homelessness. This is a change from jurisdictions and communities relying solely on laws and law enforcement intervention to address these community safety concerns. The main objective of working towards a holistic approach in addressing homelessness is proving resources, guidance, and a plan to address the root cause of a community member experiencing homelessness.

Specifically in the City of Arvada, the following steps are being taken by city departments to work together towards finding more meaningful and effective solutions.

• City of Arvada Homeless Navigation Program (AHNP): Staff in this program help connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness with resources, such as medical, substance abuse counseling, mental health treatment, and other services. The main objective of the program is to help secure housing for individuals who voluntarily participate in the program.  AHNP originated in January 2020, and in the past 18 months (January 2021-June 2022), has succeeded in housing 42 homeless individuals.
• Arvada Police Community, Outreach, Resource and Enforcement (CORE) Team: This team of officers can be assigned to various areas of the city to work with community members about specific concerns. The team, designed to be a four-person unit is currently only staffed with three officers because of a staffing deficit. Currently the CORE Team is focusing on the area south of Ralston Road and east of Allison Street.
• City Attorney’s Office & Municipal Court: These two city departments have partnered with AHNP to establish the One Small Step (OSS) Program. Offenders who are contacted by police can be referred to the OSS Program, which has a primary focus of addressing the underlying cause which led to the offender being contacted by law enforcement. This includes referring to offenders to meet with AHNP Homeless Navigators as well as other community resources.

The theme of these partnerships is to work towards finding meaningful solutions and providing community members experiencing homelessness with the resources to get assistance and find a stable living environment. It is also clear that in Arvada, and any other jurisdictions, the responsibility of addressing community concerns specific to homelessness cannot rest solely on the shoulders of local law enforcement. Without forming these meaningful partnerships and working across city departments, the police department has few to no tools to address these concerns.

Community members who are interested in these topics are encouraged to attend the North Jeffco Virtual Townhall meeting on Saturday (9:30AM-11:00AM). The event will provide information about how Jefferson County, Arvada, and Westminster are providing services for those experiencing homelessness. Learn more and get the event link here.

Next week, Arvada Today digs into crime trends in Arvada as well as how Jefferson County budget cuts, COVID protocols, and a struggle to retain adequate staffing have posed ongoing challenges for law enforcement and the communities they serve.