Homelessness and housing insecurity is a hot button issue all over the country, and particularly in the Roaring Fork Valley where living costs are some of the highest in the nation. People who use substances and homeless people are two highly stigmatized groups, and one is often associated with the other.
Mugsy Faye is the founder and director of High Rockies Harm Reduction, a non profit that provides life saving services to drug users. Faye says that the way we think about these people is often misguided.
"There's this weird stereotype that drug use is pretty isolated to people who are on the streets, but the truth is everyone uses drugs across socioeconomic statuses, but people who have money and resources and private health insurance and a roof over their head don't present the same way as somebody who's using meth to stay alive on the streets by staying awake."
High Rockies Harm Reduction used to host services for drug users at the Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs. The vast majority of people they served at this location were unhoused and predominantly living in their vehicles. Fay says that a lot of individuals they saw there were in much different circumstances than one might expect.
"There are people that are in the community that are, again, kind of stereotyped as like, oh, that homeless crazy person, not my words, um, but the way that we kind of tend to think of these. And a lot of the times those individuals are housed, they are receiving care, they just Um, probably have some very serious mental health issues, and then the people who are showing up who are living out of their cars and are unhoused really don't present that way.
Like you wouldn't have guessed that. And that's kind of part of a greater shift that we're seeing of just more housing insecurity and like a new breed of people who are experiencing homelessness who maybe didn't experience it in the past. Maybe they have a car. So it looks a little different."
Lynn Kirchner is one of the founding members of the Carbondale Homeless Assistance Group, and a local realtor. Carbondale was recently featured in Forbes Magazine as the city with the highest home appreciation value over the last 20 years. Skyrocketing real estate prices are making it hard to retain housing in the area, and Kirchner says it's a problem no one likes to talk about.
"Almost homeless is a growing concern in our community. of those people who may have housing, but how secure is it? With rental, let's say we've had some people, most recently, they've been renting the same property for 10, 15, 18 years. And all of a sudden, we get a phone call saying, the place I've rented for 18 years, she's finally decided to sell and I have to find a new place to live."
Kirchner says that whatever the former tenants have been paying, if they leave, there's nothing to stop the landlord from turning around and doubling or tripling the rent.
"So take the poor person who's been living, paying rent, very faithfully, within their means. And let's say they've had a job here locally, helping one of the store owners on Main Street or doing, you know, a good job. And they've been able to live within their budget. Well, now all of a sudden they can stay where they want, but their rent. is going to go up enormously. I mean, it's just unheard of to go from 1,000 a month to 6,000 a month. And yet there's a line out the door of people, maybe, you know, three roommates that want to each pay 2,000 each, or a family that will pay 6,000 to take that house."
It's not just rent spikes that can cause financial upheaval. Simple emergencies or acts of God can have a devastating ripple effect that upsets family life and on a larger scale destabilizes the workforce. A snowstorm or a sick day can derail the finances of a family without sufficient savings.
"And what happens in real life to people is we have a snow day.
They cancel school. Two parents, they're both working to make the rent, pay for the groceries, pay for the heat, the electric, put gas in the car, and now they have a snow day. Their kids aren't old enough to stay by themselves. What happens? One of the parents has to stay with the kids, because there isn't always daycare, or there isn't, most people can't afford daycare, and there's no way of taking care of those kids.
So, one parent. doesn't go to their job in Aspen for the day, and the difference of that income could be the difference of making a full rent payment or not. "
The general rule of thumb for emergency expenses is that we should have three to six months put away, but for bigger households, more is better. According to a study performed by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Colorado is among the most expensive states, meaning that simple day to day life is an obstacle for saving.
"So when I do my conversations in educational seminars, I'll say in the room, how many people here have two years worth of money saved up to know that if something were to happen to you today, you're protected financially for two years? No one raises their hand. All right. What about, you know, 18 months, what about 12 months? No hands go up."
It isn’t just Colorado grappling with this worrying trend. Last year was one of the worst for homelessness that we have ever seen in the United States. The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress states that over 700,000 individuals experienced homelessness on the streets, in a crisis shelter, or other unstable location. The group that experienced the biggest growth in homelessness, was children, followed by those in families with children. The report cites rising inflation and stagnating wages as two of the biggest causes across middle and low income groups.
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