Aurora leaders criticize mayor s week on the streets, homeless choice comment
and last updated 2021-01-07 18:53:21-05
AURORA, Colo. â Aurora leaders and advocates for people experiencing homelessness strongly criticized Mayor Mike Coffman, who recently spent a week on the streets and told a local news station that some people experiencing homelessness are making a lifestyle choice.
Aurora Councilmember Crystal Murillo called Coffman s experience a publicity stunt and said it could lead to harmful, terrible policies.
Councilmember Alison Coombs said Coffman is not listening to the experts on this issue and undermining efforts to help those experiencing homelessness.
Shelley McKitrrick, Aurora s former homelessness program director, called Coffman s week on the streets â and his subsequent interview with CBS4 â a shallow, performative exercise.
I think the week really helped me understand the complexity of this issue, says Coffman, a Republican who previously represented Aurora and surrounding communities as the U.S. Representative for Colorado s 6th Congressional District. He told just one person that he d be spending the week on the streets: Shaun Boyd of CBS4, who interviewed him before and after his homeless stint. CBS4 also sent out a cameraman to film Coffman at various points during the week, for a piece that aired January 5 on Homeless Mike.
Coffman stayed in Denver and Aurora shelters on four nights; he slept outside on three, two of them in an encampment just off Speer by Sixth Avenue. I probably was not as well-equipped as I should have been, admits Coffman, who d packed a sleeping bag, a tarp and a backpack but no money or food.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman Goes Undercover as Homeless Man
Aurora Mayor and former congressman Mike Coffman spent his time in an unusual way last week: undercover as a homeless man.
On December 26, Coffman took to the streets of Denver and Aurora with no food or money, telling only Shaun Boyd, CBS4 s Political Specialist, about his endeavor.
The goal of the experiment was to determine the reasoning behind the growing homeless population in the area. After a week of posing as a homeless veteran, wearing only a jacket and a backpack, Coffman believes he has found the answer: drugs. These encampments are not a product of the economy or COVID. They re not a product of rental rates or housing. They are a part of a drug culture, he told Boyd. It s a lifestyle choice and it is a very dangerous lifestyle choice.