Homelessness in the Grand Valley
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The City of Grand Junction unveiled its first survey to understand the homeless problem. We know that workers plan to interview at least 50 homeless people between now and the end of December. The idea is to understand their backgrounds, how people become homeless and what keeps them from finding a stable place to live.
A park is a place of refuge for people with nowhere else to turn during the winter. “They are fighting to stay warm,” said Dawn Archuleta.
Archuleta is no stranger to life on the streets. She says you never get used to the cold. “For the last couple of nights, I stayed with a friend along with my mom over in a trailer.”
HomewardBound of the Grand Valley handles housing for the homeless. Greg Crum, the director, told us that as temperatures decrease, the number of people spending the night increases. “We’ve been basically averaging about 100 between each shelter, so 100 at both. So we’re at about 200 between the two. We still have capacity at both facilities.”
But Archuleta is apprehensive about visiting the shelters. “But other than that, I won’t go to the shelters because of COVID,” said Archuleta.
“We are not turning people away or anything at this point because of COVID,” Crum. “We are not in quarantine or outbreak or anything at this point.”
But there are few choices for Archuleta. “Because where’s everybody going to go? If they kick everybody out of the Riverbottom or around town. We don’t have nowhere to go, you know.”
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