Numerous city leaders and homeless advocates demanded action Thursday in a virtual press conference inspired by Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman’s week-long experiment posing as homeless in Aurora and Denver.

“Our goal is to provide an alternate vision to solving housing and homelessness issues,” said Aurora City Council member Crystal Murillo.

Murillo said she and the city leaders are demanding the expansion of Aurora and Denver’s Regional Housing Taskforce and the inclusion on the taskforce of people experiencing homelessness and those who have been working to address homelessness.

Murillo, along with several other speakers, also criticized Coffman’s experiment, saying he took resources from those in need and betrayed the trust and privacy of the homeless individuals he encountered.

“We want to acknowledge that that is harmful in so many ways,” she said.

Denver City Council member Candi CdeBaca also spoke out against Coffman’s actions during the press conference.

“Mayor Coffman’s stunt in the news recently was disgusting and disappointing,” she said. “It takes someone with privilege and centers them in a story to create an illusion of understanding.”

“The only solution to homelessness is housing and we’re going to have to realize that.”

CdeBaca and other speakers argued against camping bans and homeless sweeps as ways to address homelessness in Denver and Aurora, claiming that each sweep conducted costs the City of Denver $10,000.

Rather than these strategies, Thursday’s speakers argued that providing housing for those experiencing homelessness is most important and effective.

“A housing-first approach is a scientific approach,” said Shelley McKittrick, a consultant with the Colorado Village Collaborative.

“If you tell people to change before they get housed, they’re not going to get housed because you cannot rehabilitate on the street.”

Though Coffman told CBS Denver that homeless drug users were choosing that “lifestyle,” McKittrick said people often begin substance abuse because they are homeless.

McKittrick said she has encountered many people experiencing homelessness who use drugs to escape the trauma of living on the street, help them sleep in uncomfortable conditions and stay awake to avoid being attacked in the night.

Other speakers pointed to causes of homelessness within disadvantaged groups like people of color suffering from poverty, women fleeing domestic violence and LGBTQ+ youth running from unsafe homes.

John Stone, Englewood City Council member at large, said he was homeless for five years between the ages of 16 and 21.

Though Stone was highly offended by Coffman’s experiment, calling it “immoral and disgusting,” he emphasized that he hopes the attention it caused will be used positively.

“I want for us to come together and generate something productive from this,” Stone said.

Stone reiterated the importance of a housing-first approach and said city leaders should never view homeless residents or drug addicts as lost causes.

Speakers pointed to organizations including the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative and Colorado Coalition for the Homeless that have been developing long-term, reachable plans for years to address homelessness locally.

“Why don’t we try helping people instead of chasing them around the city?” Stone said. “Why don’t we come together as a region?”