Robert is a long-time Denver resident and vocal critic of city policy surrounding homelessness. Although he is not unhoused himself, he has been actively involved in advocacy since 2008, including participation in Occupy Denver. He attributes the worsening homelessness crisis largely to political decisions made under past mayors, and what he sees as undue influence from the Downtown Denver Partnership.
Robert argues that the city's approach—especially the 2012 Urban Camping Ban—has criminalized homelessness rather than alleviating it. He sharply criticizes what he calls a "nonprofit industrial complex" that siphons public funds into service organizations with narrow mandates, without addressing the root problem: lack of housing. He cites a doubling of deaths among the unhoused population as evidence that these policies are failing and lethal.
