Karen Garner to Camp Loveland – Systemic Brutality
Are you familiar with the requirements to get the privilege of staying at the overcrowded, underfunded, questionably staffed, bed bug infested Loveland Resource Center?
How does this sit with you? Do you even know what this means?
The unhoused of Loveland, who are largely composed of individuals who couldn’t recover from catastrophic circumstances, are given this as the only option for overnight shelter, following the closing of the South Railroad Facility.
By catastrophic circumstance I mean an injury that didn’t heal, or you just lost too much work while it did, or you couldn’t afford your prescriptions and got so sick, or couldn’t keep up with all of the late fees, or couldn’t find a job that pays well enough to cover your baby sitter, and none of them work around what your kids need. It’s COVID, and Cancer, and Fires. It’s services that aren’t available, that your insurance wouldn’t cover anyhow. It’s the stigma behind mental health. It’s filling out your disability application, and knowing how far in the hole you will already be when it takes them 278 days (on average) to return your first denial. It’s a system that denies almost ALL disability claims regardless of how our bodies and minds are impacting our lives.
According to the LAW the city’s ENCAMPMENT BAN is not enforceable without overnight shelter available. If it’s available the person HAS to accept it. This is what they are forced to agree to.
Think about it.
Think about a backpack with everything you have and a roll you have to carry everywhere, and even the place you ARE allowed to be- this- THIS IS THE HELP?!?!?!?
We have given the unhoused of Loveland nowhere safe to exist, and then people are in an uproar over feeling unsafe when this leaks into their neighborhoods. We are all in this grinder. More to come.
Survivor Literacy 
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