Calling the traditional setup of homeless shelters inadequate and dangerous during a pandemic, several groups filed a lawsuit in state court asking the Department of Public Health and Environment to provide safe and sanitary housing to Colorado’s homeless community.

“Plaintiffs take pains here not to cast a negative light on the efforts of those managing the shelters in our state during this crisis, but conditions are uniformly deficient throughout Colorado shelters,” the complaint reads.

There were over 9,600 people experiencing homelessness in Colorado during a 2019 census, over half of whom were in the Denver metro area. The plaintiffs, which include Denver Homeless Out Loud, Solidarity Not Charity, the Fort Collins Homeless Coalition, Boulder Rights Watch and Safe Access for Everyone, alleged that existing shelters could not accommodate the distancing needed to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

“Conditions in the two Boulder shelters are overcrowded,” the complaint reads, with “people sleeping in bunk beds with only a few feet in between each bunk, making the shelters ideal hotspots for this highly infectious disease.”

Among the exacerbating factors, the plaintiffs allege that beds and sleeping mats are usually fewer than three feet apart, bathrooms are shared, and food service occurs in congregated settings. The groups suing the state, which work with the homeless communities of Grand Junction, Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder, acknowledged that the CDPHE is likely doing the best job that it can under the circumstances, but that it should enforce the state’s public health orders related to quarantines and isolation on behalf of homeless individuals as well.

A CDPHE spokesperson said that the department could not comment on pending litigation.

Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument and felt that asking people without a home to abide by the statewide stay-at-home order was a “complete contradiction.”

“In my home city of Aurora, efforts are being made to purchase vacant motels to separate homeless individuals infected with COVID-19. I believe similar actions can and should be taken on a state level,” he said. In previous legislative sessions, Melton was a sponsor of the “right to rest” proposal to give homeless individuals the ability to lawfully occupy public spaces.

The lawsuit asks the state to work with localities to provide housing and to do more to prevent COVID-19 transmission among the homeless community. As of its filing, 10 homeless individuals had tested positive for COVID-19. Multiple cities, including Austin, San Francisco and the District of Columbia have taken steps toward placing people in hotel rooms as an alternative to street homelessness.

In the absence of a remedy, the Colorado plaintiffs wrote, those experiencing homelessness face an unappealing choice: “shelters in beds that are inches apart from people exhibiting classic symptoms of Covid-19, or out on the streets where they are routinely violated and assaulted.”

Homelessness advocates’ lawsuit against CDPHE