The city’s plan to establish three managed homeless campsites took a hit late Tuesday with Mayor Michael Hancock’s announcement withdrawing the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library from consideration.

The suggested location had drawn harsh criticism from Five Points community members.

It was the second time a proposed location for an encampment has been withdrawn.

Last month, the parking lot of the Denver Coliseum was close to becoming the first camp when outrage from residents in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods finally killed the project.

Now, with two proposed locations out the window, plans are looking bleak.

“You have to move forward,” said Terese Howard, Denver Homeless Out Loud activist, speaking Wednesday during a virtual community forum on the project. “They’re going to continue to live on the streets.”

Howard said the homeless residents at Blair-Caldwell were in tears after hearing the news, having had their hopes of stability ripped away and fearing impending sweeps by the city.

The campsite would have established a fenced-off area in the library’s parking lot with a single point of entry staffed 24 hours a day. The tents would be 12 feet apart from one another and the city’s partner, Colorado Village Collaborative, would provide services including bathrooms, storage and showers.

While many are disheartened, others appreciate the cancellation.

“I respectfully commend Mayor Hancock for his decision to take the Five Points location of the Blair-Caldwell Library off the table,” former Denver city leader Elbra Wedgeworth said.

“It is imperative that as a city we respect the neighborhood, culture and businesses and more importantly the historical legacy of Five Points.”

Wedgeworth said she is eager to help Hancock and his administration find a new location for the campsites. However, it has proven to be a difficult task.

While looking for a new location, the teams are considering size, zoning utilities, demographics of the site and land ownership. According to CVC Executive Director Cole Chandler, private ownership means they simply do not have access to some of the most ideal locations.

Now, Chandler said, the goal is to find areas where people are already camping and establish managed encampments near there. That was the inspiration for the Blair-Caldwell location.

Lisa Calderón, chief of staff for Denver District 9 Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, said a lot of suggested locations for the encampments are in dumping areas, landfills or near highways.

“These are not places where we should be putting human beings,” Calderón said. “That’s been some of the tension.”

The CVC has evaluated 93 Denver locations in the last four months, and the mayor’s office said are they still being considered. Chandler said they’ve had conversations with representatives from Districts 3, 7, 9 and 10 about locations within the districts.

CdeBaca, who represents Five Points, said she is supportive of any location they can get, expressing her disappointment in Hancock’s sudden removal of Blair-Caldwell from consideration.

Now, CdeBaca said she is virtually powerless to move the process forward.

“The ball is in the mayor’s court right now. We don’t have authority as a city group or as a city council to investigate another site,” she said.

The mayor’s office said there are no deadlines set on choosing another location, but insisted they are working to open the first site “as soon as possible.”

But for Chandler, being months into the project without a single confirmed location simply isn’t good enough.

“Back in March when we started this conversation, we started with a sense of urgency,” Chandler said. “In the midst of trying to choose a perfect site and engage the community in a perfect way … we’ve lost that urgency.”

“What do we need to do to take care of our neighbors tonight?”