Skjellyfetti

Colorado mayor spotted sleeping at a homeless shelter. Aurora, Colorado, Mayor Mike Coffman gained widespread attention after revealing that he regularly spends Friday nights sleeping on a basic cot at a local homeless shelter. Since February 2024, the 71-year-old mayor has stayed overnight at the Aurora Regional Navigation Center, a city-funded 600-bed transitional housing campus that he helped create. During these visits, Coffman stays in the facility’s Tier One overnight shelter, sleeps in his regular clothes, and wakes up Saturday mornings to help serve breakfast to residents. Coffman began the weekly stays to gain a firsthand understanding of how the city’s millions in homelessness funding are being used and to see how the facility operates from the perspective of those relying on its services. He has said the experience changed the way he views people facing homelessness, leading him to focus more on individual circumstances and compassion. The initiative followed a controversial 2021 experiment in which Coffman spent a week undercover as a homeless veteran, a decision that drew criticism after he previously described homelessness as a “lifestyle choice.”