One January morning this year, Corey Devin Ramsey woke up in Boulder Canyon, packed up their sleeping bag, hammock and tarp, and walked about a mile to the Boulder County Justice Center. They had a court hearing on trespassing charges.
Ramsey pushed two backpacks with all their belongings through the security scanner. A security guard asked to see what appeared to be a bottle of hot sauce. Ramsey opened their duffle bag and removed a blanket, book, can of Monster Energy and plastic water bottle. Before Ramsey located the hot sauce, the security guard waved them through.
They were five minutes late for the hearing. Walking in wet shoes with backpacks slung over their shoulders, they slipped on the stairs to the courtroom. They laid there for three minutes. First they cried, then grunted, then drew a deep breath. They stood up and walked into the courtroom.
For Ramsey, the hearing was another complication in their pursuit of housing in the City of Boulder. Clearing up misdemeanor charges is just one of the hassles that can come with living outside while the wait drags on.
Ramsey has been trying to get subsidized housing in Boulder County since June 2022, competing with about 360 others on a waiting list. The last time they checked, Ramsey’s name was nearly two-thirds down the list.
The odds of moving up that queue are stacked against Ramsey. This is because the county prioritizes people who are least likely to get housing on their own, such as those who are older, have a mental illness, addicted to drugs or alcohol, and have one or more disabilities. Ramsey doesn’t meet all those criteria.
“Since I got here, I have not moved any closer to being housed,” Ramsey told Boulder Reporting Lab. “I thought that I’ve talked to the right people. I’ve thought that I’ve made the right connections and I’ve got my foot in the right doors to make things happen. I’ve been wrong.”
Ramsey, 31, grew up in Greeley. They use gender-neutral pronouns.
Ramsey said they have been homeless since they were 18. They have since mostly couch surfed and slept outside. They came to Boulder in 2015. They now sleep up Boulder Canyon. They have a sleeping bag rated to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, two blankets, a sleeping pad, a hammock and a tarp.
Ramsey carries hardcover copies of the Nevernight chronicles by Jay Kristoff. They have performed at poetry slams and written computer code. They have taught animation and 3D printing while living at a makerspace. They said they scored higher than 160 on the IQ test, a result far above average. They have stacked packages at a warehouse for Amazon and scanned purchases at the checkout line at Target.
But Ramsey said they have struggled to keep a job and therefore cannot afford a home.
One reason they point to is a diagnosis for level one autism, a relatively mild version of the neurodevelopmental disorder. This causes them to speak their mind, even if they come across as off-putting and argumentative. Sometimes they don’t pick up on social cues. They’ve angered employers by raising concerns about workplace dynamics, admitting, “I just didn’t have the social awareness to understand that I can’t talk about those things.” Small talk feels like a waste of time.
Wearing noise-canceling headphones helps manage their sensitivity to noise. But they tried staying at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and the noise, light and smell were overwhelming. They left after three days with little to no sleep. In addition to autism, they said they have fibromyalgia, scoliosis, a rotated hip, and the loss of feeling on their left side due to nerve damage.
Despite their difficulties, Ramsey’s odds of getting subsidized housing in Boulder are slim.
The county uses a process known as “coordinated entry” to decide the order of who gets a highly sought-after housing voucher or other homelessness resources. People who are least likely to find housing — older people, people with multiple disabilities or a mental illness, and those addicted to drugs or alcohol — receive a higher level of priority.
Ramsey is young. They are not addicted to drugs or alcohol. Despite their autism, they appear able to work, at least on paper. And even though they have been homeless for 13 years, that doesn’t provide an advantage. They are treated the same as someone who has been homeless for three or more years, according to the screening process.
As a result, they said, they scored relatively low following the questionnaire. After completing the entry process in June 2022, Ramsey said they were placed 220th on the list of people seeking vouchers or other housing assistance. That list has 360 names on it, according to a City of Boulder official. Ramsey may have moved farther down as new names were added to it.
“I cannot get the help that I need because of the things that I am,” Ramsey said.
They said getting a home would mean safety, stability and having regular access to food and water. They said it would mean a hot shower and having the space to learn and grow.
“It isn’t a misnomer to say that having a home would mean ‘everything,’” Ramsey wrote in an email. “It’s how people see me, it’s how people define me, it’s how people judge and value me. And to be frank, I’m much more than where and how I exist.”
Some sort of screening process is necessary given the shortage of housing resources in Boulder. In 2023, 771 people who were living in the City of Boulder completed coordinated entry, according to a county official. That year, 85 people were placed into a home in the city.
Ramsey has the option to apply for a housing voucher through an income-qualified housing lottery. But those odds are slim, too. In the October to November 2023 lottery hosted by Boulder Housing Partners, the city’s housing authority, 2,210 people applied and 350 people were selected, according to a spokesperson.
Ramsey has been meeting with Mental Health Partners, an organization that provides mental health services in Boulder County, about two times per week to help obtain financial benefits and a housing voucher.
Most recently, they have been applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Disability Determination Services, a state agency that determines disability benefits, has twice denied Ramsey’s application, according to medical records shared with Boulder Reporting Lab. Ramsey plans to travel to Denver in March for a hearing to make their case again.
Separately, during a recent visit to Mental Health Partners, Ramsey said they spent an hour on hold waiting to speak to someone at the Boulder County Housing and Humans Services about reauthorizing their benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, and financial assistance under the Aid to the Needy Disabled (AND) program.
Due to a lapse in coverage, they said they were without benefits for three months. “I was literally starving,” they said. Their AND benefits are still pending in part because they were late sending in a Reimbursement of Interim Assistance (IM-14) form. The form essentially is an agreement that Ramsey will repay any AND benefits back to the county if they receive SSI benefits for the same month.
They currently receive $290 per month in food stamps.
To help sort out this bureaucratic hassle, they recently visited Mental Health Partners during open office hours to meet with the benefits team. No one was there, they said. They described it as a waste of time, energy and a bus ticket.
Ramsey is beginning to distrust Mental Health Partners, which is one of the only reliable resources they have. Sometimes, they said, they just want to yell.
“It feels good. Absolutely. But it doesn’t get me anywhere,” Ramsey said.
Navigating the path to housing becomes more challenging while living outside.
In December 2023, Ramsey broke their foot after slipping on the ice and received a cast boot. Despite the doctor’s advice to rest, Ramsey said they were unable to.
Every Friday, Ramsey said they pack up their belongings before 7 a.m. because that’s when city crews and police officers come to remove encampments.
And several days after breaking their foot, Ramsey said someone stole their backpack with their sleeping gear. To pass the night, Ramsey said an officer drove them to iHop. Ramsey then went to McDonalds for a coffee and later attempted to sleep outside the Boulder Public Library. Concerned they were hypothermic, they called for an ambulance. When it arrived, they got inside to warm up.
One night in January 2023, Ramsey said they felt suicidal and drank about half a handle of whiskey. They walked into a snowbank. Worried about cold exposure, they called 911.
They were taken to Foothills Hospital on Arapahoe Avenue, and placed on an alcohol-related hold. Later that evening, a City of Boulder police officer came to the hospital to bring Ramsey to the Addiction Recovery Center, a detox facility at 3180 Airport Road in Boulder, according to body camera footage of the encounter. Ramsey did not want to go. When the officer asked if they had a camp they could go to, Ramey said they did but remained in the hospital bed.
The officer said Ramsey would be charged with trespassing if they did not leave. Ramsey got up and began getting dressed, putting on wet long underwear, wet sweatpants, wet jeans and wet boots. Ramsey hesitated in the emergency room vestibule.
“I don’t want to be out in the cold,” Ramsey told a security guard, three City of Boulder police officers and a hospital employee. “All of you have decided to be absolutely inhumane.”
The officer then asked if Ramsey wanted to go to jail. Ramsey said yes.
They were handcuffed and taken to Boulder County Jail. Ramsey was charged with trespassing and obstruction of a police officer.
It was for these charges that Ramsey visited the Boulder County Justice Center about one year later.
A prosecutor for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the obstruction of a police officer charge. The prosecutor was now offering eight hours of community service in exchange for a guilty plea to trespassing.
During the hearing, Ramsey said they thought about the taxpayer money being spent to charge them — costs for the judge, court recorder, prosecutor, public defender, paralegal. Ramsey also thought about how, just two nights prior, during an Arctic cold front, they stayed at an emergency shelter where they said police overlooked people smoking methamphetamine.
Ramsey requested a trial. They said they expect to lose but they are doing it partially on principle.
“I trespassed at the hospital because I didn’t want to freeze to death,” Ramsey said. “If I see any juror actually struggling with the decision, weighing the pros and cons, and recognizing that this isn’t justice, cool. I’ve gotten something out of this.”
I’ve never seen such reporting.
Editor’s note: Boulder Reporting Lab uses they/them/their as a way of accurately describing and representing a person who uses those pronouns for themself. Any readers with questions and comments can refer to the latest edition of the AP Stylebook. — BRL editors
How many Devin Ramsey’s are there?
👎 Not helpful. This is a struggling human in deep need. How is that relevant to anything important?
To be clear, I’m stunned at the surreal quality of this report. It is so illuminating and so important to have this deep view made available.
Hear, hear!
It is exceedingly helpful to see the dynamic between all the different aspects of their peculiar case to change the approach to triage for alleviation and mitigation of such circumstances. That is precisely why this investigative piece is so critical and appreciated.
Thank you for this report. I know Devin pretty well, and have helped them with a few things over the past couple of years. I haven’t seen them for probably six months. I am in awe of Devin’s ability to persevere against all odds. They are extremely intelligent, responsible and trustworthy, and VERY detail-oriented. Devin would be able to hold a job under the right conditions. About a year or so ago I bought him a pair of work shoes for a new restaurant job that he was excited about. The hours worked for them because they were able to make it into town from their location way up in the canyon, walking most of the way round-trip . The job lasted into well into the night and Devin never complained. They were often the last to leave work making sure everything was done right and in order. As a person with autism, Devin is susceptible to being overwhelmed by too much visual/sound input. This particular restaurant has strobe light displays and lots of noise to celebrate customer’s birthday parties. It was during one of these events that Devin snapped and lost it. That was his last day on the job.
There is so much to say about Devin. I admire them greatly, and am always expecting the worst because in addition to autism, he is medically fragile and deteriorating due to the hardships of their life as a homeless person. It is so depressing to see them make no progress in the system. They do not understand systems that work poorly and in which people don’t do what they are supposed to do or say they are going to do. This really throws them for a loop. But we all understand the coordinated entry system is designed for those “high utilizers” who cause the most problems. That is not Devin by any stretch. He doesn’t drink, do drugs, never got a camping ticket until the past six months.
I remember one time he was approached by some police officers when they had moved into the edge of town to sleep by the creek, and they were beside themselves with fear of getting a camping ticket. Devin was so stressed and exhaused that they later experienced auditory hallucinations, convinced the police were setting some kind of weird trap for him just to be able to give him a ticket or conviscate his belongings. It took awhile for them to realize that he what was happening so they were freaked out for days.
I wish someone in the system could help him. Why do the people who don’t cause problems have to wait until never to get any assistance? Devin needs it more than most. I don’t know how much longer they can last. It sounds like they are losing hope.
Thank you for this report. It demonstrates the struggle of the more vulnerable unhoused and gives us a glimpse into what it’s like to be homeless these days.
This is why we need to focus on housing those who are not alcoholics and drug users first.
I’m not sure about that, but I feel there is something insidious about mainly focusing on high utilizers. The city and county want to relieve pressure on the criminal justice and health care systems. That should not be the main concerns driving homeless policy. Those systems are broken and they need to develop strategues to fix them. We need big picture reforms.
I really appreciated this report. I didn’t know about this problem in the system. Thank you for spelling it out! Also, I’d love to know what happens for Devin; please consider doing a follow up report with them.
Cheers you guys. Thanks for the amazing coverage. This was a terrific article.
I agree — this is very well written! I also met Devin recently at the hot meal provided on Sunday evenings by the homeless outreach organization “Colorado Friendship” who I volunteer for. I was struck by their intelligent and well-spoken demeanor. I spoke with them for about half an hour and they mentioned this interview. In my mind, they are caught in the crossfire between uncaring capitalist self-interests and the enormously under-funded organizations working to help them. Please consider donating to these essential services as well as advocating for the construction of more housing space for these folks. Getting off of the street requires some reasonable level of stability — drug addicted or not. The existing “System” that’s responsible for them being homeless in the first place will not help! We have to do this ourselves on the ground level and the excellent reporting here, I hope, will help us along the way — THANKS BRL!!