Gary Peters spent seven years camping outside a Denver golf course to avoid sleeping in a public shelter until last summer when he moved into a new homeless community where he's been given his own ice-fishing tent featuring electrical outlets, a cot and a zero-degree rated sleeping bag.
The 75-year-old is among the benefactors of Denver’s nearly $4 million investment aimed at providing homeless people with “safe outdoor spaces” as an alternative to public shelters, which many have chosen to avoid due to safety concerns or restrictive rules — including curfews and bans on pets. The need for alternatives to shelters increased during the pandemic as more people moved outdoors due to concerns over the risk of COVID-19 transmission in such indoor facilities.
