Extreme heat predicted for Friday July 12 -Sunday July 14. The City of Denver has opened cooling centers at all rec centers during normal operating hours. Stay in the shade, drink water, and stay safe!
Extreme heat predicted for Friday July 12 -Sunday July 14. The City of Denver has opened cooling centers at all rec centers during normal operating hours. Stay in the shade, drink water, and stay safe!
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Access to healthy reliable food, like housing, is critical to health and well-being. For people experiencing homelessness (PEH), access to food can be unreliable and sporadic which further exacerbates health issues and their ability to take care of themselves. Nearly one in ten Coloradans live below the poverty line1, often forcing an impossible choice between housing and putting food on the table.
Food Security Defined: “Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.”2
Food Insecurity:
Ashley Wheeland from Hunger Free Colorado explains that while food insecurity usually precedes homelessness, homelessness makes people more food insecure. “A large part of food insecurity comes from the lack of means to cook or a place to store food. Lack of a proper home often leaves people with no other option but to be undernourished.”
Wendolyne Omaña, Colorado resident has been working vehemently for rent-burdened Latino families in her community, specifically those living in Westside Home Park. “Having affordable housing and access to food is so hard. You need a car. What if you already have 2-3 jobs and the food at the food bank is high in cholesterol and then you have to walk 30-45 minutes to get healthier food?”
Housing instability, food insecurity, racial and ethnic and class disparities, LGBTQ status, and other identities and experiences are deeply connected. Barriers to affordable and accessible housing can force people to make impossible choices between food and rent. Policy solutions may include:
Access to healthful foods is an important determinant of health and wellbeing, and either can sustainably be achieved without housing as a foundation.
From better health to food security to good education, housing is foundational to every aspect of well-being, building stronger communities, promoting economic growth, and providing opportunities for everyone to thrive. Our Colorado-based, multi-sector coalition is working in coordination with the National Low-Income Housing Coalition to generate widespread support for local, state, and federal policies that correct long-standing racial inequities and economic injustices that have prevented access to affordable, quality housing for people with low incomes