Residents are calling on Denver Health to move a program that pays drug users cash to take HIV tests and surveys

Homelessness, street crime and vandalism are nothing new along the Broadway corridor south of downtown Denver. But Chris Specht, who owns a condo in the Broadway Flats building at 2nd and Broadway, contends that Denver Health is exacerbating the problems by operating a community facility in Specht's building that pays people who inject drugs to enter the building to come to take HIV tests and take a survey about their lifestyle.

Each participant earns $35 in cash for completing the survey, another $35 for taking an HIV test, and can earn an additional $100 by recruiting a maximum of five more people to do the same.

The money comes from the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which sponsors the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program to collect data on people who are at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV.

“If you feed the bears, you're going to get more bears,” said Specht, who contends that the REACH program, administered locally by Denver Health, attracts an unpredictable and unpredictable population of drug users that threaten drug user safety the residents who live in the 10 condominiums in the Broadway Flats building. Denver Health has rented space on the ground floor for the program.

Specht says he's seen participants in the program get paid in cash, then “they call their dealers, their dealer people come … and sell them their drugs, and they sit here and do drugs. They give cash.” We pay these guys and gals money to do STD testing, but it's attracting more and more of them to this neighborhood and to our building. “More drugs, more drugs, more drugs — that’s all they care about,” said Specht, who has lived in the building since 2006.

“I don’t allow my wife to walk around alone in the afternoon, especially at night,” Specht said. “We have had incidents where they threw stones at us, shouted at us or made a move like they were kicking our dog,” he said.

Specht said REACH customers regularly hang around the building before and after testing.

Eric Cadman, who runs a digital marketing company downstairs, said he regularly sees “drug users and addicts waiting in front” of the Denver Health website.

“We were actually chased and had things thrown at us. I'm actually accompanying some employees to their cars now. We are afraid of the violence and problems that are happening out there,” Cadman said.

Dr. Bob Belknap, executive director of Denver Health's public health institute, said he believes the building's residents are mistaken about who is making them feel unsafe. He says the increase in homeless people along the Broadway corridor is the real problem.

“We really believe that this is probably the reason for their concern and not actually our program,” Belknap said.

When asked why the program is located in a mixed-use residential building rather than on Denver Health's main campus just a few blocks away, Belknap said, “We've found that the community we recruit for feels comfortable to get there. When we talk, tell people where they want to come and be interviewed, not on a medical campus, but in the community.”

The REACH program seeks out drug users in 2nd and Broadway locations and runs on a cyclical basis every few years. This year it started in June and ends on November 22nd.

“The data we collect is incredibly important,” Belknap said.

He said it helps connect people to care, take preventive measures and reduce HIV in the community. In previous years, the program distributed grocery store gift cards to drug users who agreed to come in for testing. This year, however, it switched to cash, which Denver Health says is consistent with what other REACH clinics are giving out across the country.

Belknap said the administration heard the complaints and cut the clinic's operating hours, met with the building's landlord and worked with Denver police to address concerns.

But at least a few Broadway Flats residents are unmoved by Denver Health's reasoning.

“Why do we as citizens who work hard and pay taxes pay for something that makes the problem worse?” asked Specht.

“It just makes a lot more sense to have it on their property (main campus),” he said.

Cadman was more explicit.

“We are dealing with unstable people and when we combine that with drug use it is a recipe for disaster. It’s absolutely crazy and it has to stop.”

Denver Health said its lease for the Broadway office space runs through 2026 and there are no plans to leave early.