Denver’s candidates for mayor clashed over the city’s camping ban in their first major debate on Thursday night, when affordability, homelessness and crime took center stage.

The candidates split on whether to enforce the urban camping ban. Some supported it, while others seek new solutions.

Businessman and Army veteran Andre Rougeot, who supports the sweeps, said homelessness is “out of control” in Denver.    

“We’ve seen nearly a doubling of unsheltered homeless people in the past four years,” he said. “We need to enforce our camping ban to get people who are dealing with severe mental health or severe drug addiction issues into the services they need.”

Sen. Chris Hansen, a Democrat who represents Denver’s east-central and southeast neighborhoods at the Colorado state Capitol, also said the city should enforce the camping ban and offered solutions he said would make the sweeps more effective and efficient. 

“We’re going to spend a quarter billion dollars this year on different aspects of responding to this crisis, and we’re seeing a negative result,” he said. “This is a moment to reevaluate, use evidence-based programming and budgeting like I’ve done at the state level to make sure we’re spending our money very carefully and with effect.”

That prompted candidate and fellow state lawmaker Rep. Leslie Herod, who represents District 8, to tout the success of a program she helped create. 

“I’m proud to have created Caring for Denver, the state’s largest mental health organization,” she said. “In our program, 86% of people have not returned to prison or the streets when they get services. That’s what we need to do.”

Whoever emerges winner out of the 17 aspirants for mayor faces gargantuan challenges magnified by Denver’s unique characteristics, notably the homelessness crisis that is spiraling out of control, a housing affordability challenge that is pricing low-income and often longtime residents out and a sense of resignation that soaring crime is here to stay – all happening amidst a population explosion that caught Colorado flatfooted.

The new mayor will also need to resolve lingering problems, including the city’s ability to pick up trash on time, as well relatively new ones, notably Denver’s snow plow issues.

All the candidates showed up at Thursday’s debate hosted by Regis University, except for Al Gardner, who was unable to attend due to family matters.

Of the hundreds of graduates Regis University will send into the world this spring, many will be forced to leave the city due to cost, said moderator Dominic Dezzutti said, who asked candidates for their solutions.

In response, current at-large Councilwoman Deborah Ortega called attention to a familiar issue.

“One of the first things I would do is address the permitting problem,” she said. “I (also) want to see the city of Denver do manufactured housing and do it on public lands, where we can bring costs down by 40%.”

Manufactured homes could be for both sale and rent, creating wealth building opportunities for people across Denver, she said.

Candidate Terrance Roberts asked Ortega her thoughts on a public banking system as a means to pay for more housing. Ortega said there’s “an opportunity” to explore that option. 

Ian Tafoya, a longtime advocate running for mayor, said he is concerned about the lack of humanity in some of the responses by the other candidates. 

“I just heard four people answer this question and I don’t think any of it was centered on human beings,” he said. “We need to create programs within the city that allow us to hire great people out of college and have incentives for them to work for us, like housing vouchers.”

Homelessness has plagued metro Denver, even as state and local governments have poured significant resources into tackling the crisis. A free-market think-thank said local governments and nonprofits are on track to spend nearly $2 billion over a three-year period to tackle homelessness in some counties in the Denver metro area alone.

Over one year, it jumped by 1,400 people – from 5,530 in 2021 to 6,884 in 2022, the Denver Gazette earlier reported. 

In addition to homelessness and housing affordability, Denverites also face soaring crime, which increased scrutiny not just on police departments but also on the city and state’s policy responses. Some criticize Colorado’s policymakers for pursuing “criminal-friendly” laws, while others argue that a tough-on-crime approach hasn’t worked.      

Candidate Lisa Calderon said the solution to solving crime in Denver is not found in more police or hostile rhetoric. 

“We need to change from calling young people gang members. When they see themselves as being criminalized, they don’t look at themselves as having a future,” she said.

Roberts called for more investment in communities. 

“I am the only ex-gang member in the entire country running for such a high office,” he said. “We need more dedicated youth spaces. We need to get them involved with the arts. Domestic violence is the No. 1 precursor to gang violence.”

With Michael Hancock facing term limits, voters in Denver are set to elect their first new mayor in 12 years on April 4. A runoff will happen in June between the top two candidates, assuming nobody gets more than 50% of the vote in April.