DENVER Neighbors in Northeast Denver feel like theyre bearing the brunt of the citys homelessness response.This comes as Denver plans to convert a former halfway house, which was purchased by the city last year, into a 20-famil y shelter.That site, at 4280 Columbine St., is just one mile from another proposed homeless shelter, still in the planning phase. The proposed cold weather shelter would replace the now-closed Monroe Village tiny home community, which closed in July. A community meeting to discuss the cold weather shelter is set for Oct. 8.Any one project is great, but we do get a lot of those projects in this neighborhood, said 22-year Clayton resident Terri Carrigan-McMillan. I think it's a very compassionate neighborhood, but there's some fatigue.There's a huge need [for shelters], and nobody wants to say no, right? Especially in this neighborhood, she added. Nobody wants to stop it; they just want it to be a little bit more well thought out and spread out.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Neighbors raise concerns about proposed family shelter in Denver neighborhood Closure of Denver's oldest tiny-home village sparks concerns about future of model City of Denver eyes former halfway house in Elyria-Swansea for Roads to Recovery programCarrigan-McMillan went on to call Clayton a great neighborhood but also say that this part of the city is neglected.I think we're kind of the last ones that ever really get attention, she said.Carrigan-McMillan questioned whether the area around the Columbine Street site is a safe or welcoming enough environment for the families would use the shelter, citing frequent truck traffic and reported drug use.At a public meeting Tuesday night to discuss the proposed shelter, former Denver City Council member and longtime Elyria-Swansea resident Candi Cdebaca echoed that concern.I don't think the people who are coming [to the shelter] are going to endanger our neighborhood, she said. I think the people who are coming are going to be subjected to the dangerous conditions the city continues to ignore in our neighborhood There's a lack of grocery stores, child care, green space, all of those things in our neighborhood, and that's where we're saying is the right place to place the most vulnerable people.Cdebaca called for a more equitable distribution of shelters in other parts of the city,Denver7 asked current Council Member Darrell Watson, who also spoke at Tuesdays meeting, why Denvers homeless shelters seem to be concentrated in his district.District Nine has for decades been the space and place where we have taken on the majority of the care for folks who are unhoused, whether it was in Five Points, Globeville, Elyria-Swansea, Watson said. Part of my focus has been in the last three years is to make sure when we have discussions about shelters or opportunities to serve folks who are unhoused, that discussion is citywide.We have a very clear opportunity right now, with hundreds of families on a waiting list, to find solutions to help save lives and provide dignity during this winter that's coming up, he added.However, Watson went on to say, I hear the community.We know that we have been the folks who are taking on most of this support, and I also know that District Nine residents have a massive heart, he said. I know that these families need to be in communities that where they feel loved, and they feel part of it. This community will do that.While the proposed Monroe Street shelter site has been widely discussed as a 400-bed cold weather shelter, Watson disputed that Wednesday. He says his discussions with Mayor Mike Johnston's administration have been centered around a cold weather shelter closer to 150 beds.I do not support in any way, shape, or form the placing of 400 beds in that community, he said. That is not a starting point for discussion I have no problems with engaging in a dialogue around cold weather sheltering, because we know we've lost so many lives in the winter time for the lack of cold weather sheltering, and that's the only discussion I'm dealing with with the administration.The Columbine Street shelter site is also just one mile away from the controversial CoreSite data center recently built in Elyria-Swansea. City leaders are debating how to regulate those sites moving forward. ...read more read less