Homeless Handyman’s Hopes Dashed After Job at Brown Palace Ends in Despair
Joe Henry, a lifelong Denver resident, believed he had finally found a way out of homelessness when he secured a job at the prestigious Brown Palace Hotel. But a series of unfortunate events and poor decisions quickly led him back to the streets, where hope now seems like a distant memory.
Homelessness in Denver has become an increasingly difficult cycle to break. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the rate of people returning to homelessness in Colorado has been rising steadily since 2019. In 2022, 9 percent of individuals who had escaped homelessness in the Denver metro area found themselves back on the streets within six months, and more than 20 percent returned after two years, the highest rate since 2018.
Henry’s journey into homelessness began last October when he discovered his roommate dead in their Lakewood apartment. The tragedy forced him out of the home they shared, as he could no longer afford the rent alone. His roommate, who had been struggling with a crack addiction, was likely a victim of fentanyl, according to Henry. Her death was a devastating blow.
“I found her on the ground, ice cold,” Henry recalls. “She and I were pretty tight.”
With nowhere else to turn, Henry lost his job as a custodian at Lasley Elementary School in Lakewood and was forced to live out of his deceased roommate’s ’97 Subaru Legacy. He spent nights in the car, parked in empty lots around Denver, and occasionally scraped together enough money to rent a motel room for a few nights each weekend, providing a brief respite from life on the streets.
But the comfort of his temporary lodging was fleeting, and Henry soon found himself back on the streets, his hope for a stable life slipping further away.
