Busloads of migrants are arriving in Denver three times a week now, an uptick that advocates credit to the sudden increase of families rather than individuals claiming asylum to get immediate passage past our southern border.
It turns out families get extra benefits in Denver, like free childcare, summer camp for the kids, and they get to stay longer in taxpayer-funded shelters than individuals.
Denver is crafting a permanent, taxpayer-funded system to house and feed migrants who say the magic word “asylum” at the border, for carte blanche access to the U.S. until a judge hears their case, which could take years.
Westword has an extensive report on the influx, and how the city is handling the migrant crisis, as opposed to the homeless crisis.
Lessons could be learned.
For example, migrant families have one month, three weeks for an individual, to find housing before their free time in the shelter expires, says Yoli Casas, executive director of ViVe Wellness, one of several organizations finding housing and childcare for migrants.
Those who do need housing only have a month, at most, to find it and a job in order to put a deposit down on a unit, according to Casas. Migrants follow the same steps that any other Denver resident would for finding housing.
“Like anybody else, if you want to apply for an apartment, you have to go through the application process,” Casas says.
“You’ve got to fill out the application, you’ve got to do a background check, you’ve got to make sure you make two and half times the rent. You have to follow everything the same. You’re not treated special.”
So they either end up homeless after their time is up, or like Luis Alvarado who was interviewed for the story. He is unemployed yet shares an apartment with six strangers he met in a shelter. He was homeless for nine days before finding a place to live.
Advocates predict the sheltering for migrants will become a “consistent” need for the Sanctuary City of Denver, and Mayor Johnston is preparing to institutionalize that need by spending millions of taxpayer dollars to contract out with “non-profits” to meet Democrats’ open border needs.
As for the homeless, taxpayers will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get them under more long-term roofs.
Unlike the migrants from other countries, the homeless population seems to require permanent taxpayer subsidization for housing, whereas the migrants will use it short term to get established in the U.S.