Opinion: Stop discharges to the street: City may give Denver Health $999,999

Many people experiencing homelessness who pass through local hospitals or the criminal justice system are discharged back to the streets.Photo byDenver Homeless Out Loud

The Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee of the Denver City Council will consider Wednesday giving Denver Health $999,999 to better link people experiencing homelessness and the recently incarcerated to housing.

“These funds will be provided to (Denver Health) to be utilized to support and strengthen existing internal infrastructure focused on partnerships with Denver homelessness resolution partners and the Roads to Recovery project to better align housing and health supports for some of the most at-risk persons experiencing homelessness utilizing the hospital system, including those with criminal justice involvement who are part of the Roads to Recovery program,” according to an executive summary from staff to the committee.

Objectives for improving hospital to housing pipeline

While that may be word salad, clear objectives for the nearly $1 million gift include:

“Perform housing-focused screening and referrals: Screen patients experiencing homelessness, enter their information into the Homeless Management Information System, refer to housing partners as appropriate.

“Refer appropriate patients to recuperative care and 655 Broadway: Refer appropriate patients to either 655 Broadway transitional housing or to Recuperative Care Center (with the goal of continued screening for housing opportunities from both).

“Pilot improvements to data sharing and workflow collaboration: Develop appropriate data sharing agreements with homeless resolution partners and the City of Denver to enable sharing the right information for better outcomes for patients experiencing homelessness including those that are involved in the criminal justice system.

“Treatment of Denver Health patients and hand-off to Denver Department of Public Health and Environment case management: If Denver Health is the first contact for patients experiencing homelessness and exiting corrections, Denver Health will medically evaluate and treat these patients in the most appropriate setting and then coordinate with DDPHE’s case management team for transition to housing/supports in the community assuming appropriate consents are signed by the patient.

“Evaluation of program on key health and housing outcomes: Final report on outcomes from pilot and lessons learned at an aggregate level.”

The item appears on the committee's consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are considered routine and pass without discussion unless a member calls an issue out. Even if the committe approves the grant Wednesday, the full City Council still must sign off on it, too.

My own experience

As someone who experienced homelessness in Denver from 2018 until 2020, I spent many nights at Denver Health. A couple of times I was beaten by police and taken there before jail. Other times I was beaten by other homeless people and needed stitches in my face. At least a couple of times I ended up in the psych ward.

Every time, I was released back to the street. And every time, I ended up back in jail or Denver Health, two very expensive ways that people experiencing homelessness often are housed.

While it sounds like this million-dollar gift from the city could be used for lots of “process,” which I am not a fan of, the end goal is long overdue: When people come to a hospital, they are ill. They should not be released back to the street. Ever. Not to mention this costs the taxpayers millions in repeated hospital and jail visits. If this money is spent wisely, then it could be used to solve an important problem.