Shannon Hoffman

-Campaign Website : shannon-hoffman.com

-Socials: Instagram Twitter Youtube Facebook

-Contact Information (Candidate, Campaign): 303-335-9587; info@shannon-hoffman.com 

 Shannon Hoffman

-In 100 words or less tell us who you are and why you are running?

I am running for a Denver where we address public safety with root-cause solutions, housing is a human right, and we have meaningful opportunities to engage with our city. I intend to use all of my experiences as an AmeriCorps member, long-time educator, apartment tenant, and life-long learner of social and racial justice. Currently, there are no renters on the City Council, while 50% of Denverites overall are renters. I want Denver renters, hourly-wage workers, and folks trying to hang on in an increasingly unaffordable city to know they will have a District 10 councilperson that will fight alongside them.

-In 100 words or less, why do you love living in Denver?

I have loved working alongside my community. I was a part of the No Eviction Without Representation (NEWR) ballot initiative, that sought to provide legal defense to anyone in Denver facing eviction, regardless of their income. Together, we collected signatures and knocked on hundreds of doors. NEWR didn’t pass in the November citywide vote; I was heartbroken for our community that urgently needs your help to keep ourselves housed during this crisis, but I have been heartwarmed to build community with others who deeply care for our neighbors. What I love about Denver is we care for each other.

-What are your top three favorite songs of all time?

“Dog Days are Over” - Florence and the Machine “Long Violent History” - Tyler Childers “I’m Every Woman” - Whitney Houston

-What are your favorite two books (1 fiction/1 nonfiction)?

Emergent Strategy - Adrienne Maree Brown
Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann

-What was your first job?

Working at a concession stand

 Shannon Hoffman

-It is estimated that Denver is short by nearly 70,000 units of housing. What would you do to expedite increasing Denver’s housing stock?

I believe that a social housing model is one of our most ambitious plans to resolve our housing crisis. With the city as a social housing developer any “profit” that is made goes back into funding to build more housing. Rent would be set at various levels based on income and those paying more in rent would offset the ability for those at lower income levels to pay less in rent. Frequently we hear the data point that we lack 50,000 units in the city of Denver - these units are for individuals making at or below approximately $50,000.

-From recent reports, rental housing in Denver is out of reach for residents. What is your plan to ensure affordable housing for all in every type of housing?

I am a renter in Denver where we are more than 50% of the city and 70% of district 10 yet there are no renters on Denver City Council. We know that many renters are cost burdened and spending close to 50% or more of their monthly income on rent. Additionally, on doors we are hearing stories from renters who express great habitability concerts like no heat, flooding, etc. Solutions we need include: rent control, rental assistance, just cause eviction, legal eviction defense for everyone in our city, apartment acquisition funds, co-operative housing legalization and funding, and community land trusts.

-Unhoused community members have long called Denver home, but Denver has historically struggled to develop effective, human-centered strategies to address homelessness. What is your experience with homelessness, and how would you go about providing sustainable services and housing?

I have supported many people who are unhoused, including former students. I believe we must pursue a Housing First Approach — meeting people’s need for housing first without restrictions. We can do this with a creative, multi-pronged approach for housing: social housing; purchasing and rehabilitating motels; allowing for the replacement of mobile homes; purchasing of mobile home parks; allowing tiny homes; providing RV parking; and designating safe parking sites. I will also advocate for designating public dollars for mutual aid workers who are doing on-the-ground work. Finally, direct communication with unhoused neighbors and advocates is how we can determine best policies.

 Shannon Hoffman

-Would you support best value contracting and would you support a collective bargaining agreement for Denver city workers?

Yes, I support best value contracting so long as those policies reflect the needs of working people in this city are crafted with clear input from labor and local community members. Yes, I wholeheartedly support a bargaining agreement for ALL Denver city workers, instead of just some, as now exists in our city.

-How will you expedite and ensure completion of the airport renovation?

We can expedite and ensure completion of the airport renovation by centering people. Earlier this year, almost all City Councilmembers approved $4 billion in bonds to complete the Great Hall project at Denver Airport. If we support the infrastructure, we must also support the people who work inside the building. I will work to lift wages and benefit standards; protect and encourage unionization efforts; support the city auditor in reviewing contracts, wages, and working conditions to provide insight regarding improving workplace conditions that may often get overlooked in such a large and complex entity as the Denver Airport.

-What are the biggest needs and opportunities you see for the City and County of Denver to foster economic development, while safeguarding and bolstering livable jobs?

We need to support both small business owners and workers, and along the way support efforts of those two groups merging. In addition to increasing the minimum wage, we also need to support small businesses in their efforts to pay their employees well. We see small businesses shuttering because of skyrocketing rent and increased minimum wage. We need community land trusts for small businesses to help regulate their rental costs and allow businesses to support each other as they flourish. Additionally, we need to support the development of cooperatives so that workers can collectively earn together.

-Business opportunities for businesses owned by people of color, women, and other marginalized populations are key to Denver’s economic sustainability and equity goals. How will you prioritize business development programs among these key communities?

Some of the ways we can support these businesses owned by people of color and women is through procurement preferences such that the city directly uses funds to support these businesses. We can support city programs to create worker-owned businesses that are proven to benefit workers and BIPOC and women owners. Denver can also create reliable funding streams for long standing businesses with historical and cultural ties to the community. By investing in the preservation of Black and Brown owned businesses, the city can both ensure the survival of the businesses and the historical and cultural roots of the city.

 Shannon Hoffman

-In your view, what is the most pressing public safety need for the City and County of Denver today?

The most pressing public safety concern is that we continue to criminalize poverty, instead of addressing its root-causes. We do in the following ways: Addressing homelessness through sweeps, or traumatic displacements, of people instead of a permanent, supportive, housing-first approach; Addressing drug use through arrests for possessing drug paraphernalia instead of addressing drug use from a harm reduction standpoint; Ticketing people for using the bathroom outside when we do not provide adequate public restrooms; Punishing people who have no space to deposit their trash.

-How would you go about ensuring equity across our public safety system?

We have to look at equity from many different angles in our public safety system. First, we must examine who is being disproportionately policed in our community - Black and Brown people. Next, we must consider who is being kept safe when we consider that lawsuits regarding Denver Police officers’ behavior have cost the City $17 million in 2022 — a significant rise in the last five years and the third-highest figure since 2010. And finally, within the public safety system in our city only some units - police and fire, not the sheriff’s department - have collective bargaining rights, which is not equitable.

-What does community safety mean to you?

My community and I dream of a Denver where everyone can thrive on their own terms. We envision a fully operational social housing model where the city is building and buying buildings so that everyone has a home. We envision a rapid transit bus on Colfax and more City funding for accessible, sustainable transit so that everyone can get around more easily. We envision accessible mental health services and substance use treatment, including safe injection sites with wrap-around services in City-owned buildings. When addressing public health and social crises, my most essential concern is that we are not wasting public dollars on criminalizing and further traumatizing people who are made poor by systems of oppression. Instead, we should leverage those dollars for the programs and resources that do support community members to thrive.

 Shannon Hoffman

-A key in making sure Denver is a livable, equitable and thriving community is ensuring a robust transit system. Describe your vision and plan for enhancing Denver’s transit services.

I am committed to improving safety, making transit more comfortable and reliable, and improving multimodal transportation options so community members make less trips by car. To me, strengthening agency partnerships is the critical path to achieving this vision. I will advocate for transformational partnerships between DOTI, RTD, and CDOT to advance Bus Rapid Transit implementation on Colfax; improve bus stops throughout the City, continue Denver Connector “microtransit” shuttles that connect community members to the larger RTD bus and light rail system; and improve safety through high quality traffic calming improvements, new protected bike lanes, and sidewalk enhancements.

 Shannon Hoffman

-Please share your solutions for Denver’s approach to the current migrant crisis and ensuring that Denver’s programs and policies treat our immigrant communities with dignity, respect, and fairness.

I am against any cooperation of the local government with ICE. With the great influx of migrants arriving in Denver we must house people. This increase lends itself even more to our need for social housing. We also need homeless outreach that is culturally responsive and multilingual. We must consider alternative ways to hire undocumented people and to promote entrepreneurial efforts of undocumented and mixed-status people. Currently, in California legal experts are proving that states have the ability to hire undocumented students, even those without DACA. We must explore on a local level how this may apply to municipalities.

-How have you advocated for immigrant rights policies or do you have personal connections to immigration? How does that prepare you for being a candidate in an immigrant friendly state and city?

In my more than 10 year education career I have worked very closely with students and their families who have mixed-citizenship status. While working at a metro-Denver high school I supported students to revive a club for undocumented students. SOME of the things we experienced were receiving threatening, anonymous notes, upper-level staff members questioning college prep events specifically for undocumented students, and guest speakers not allowed on campus to speak to our student group. These experiences and other experiences in even less friendly states have given me a tiny window as an ally and continue to drive me to advocate.

 Shannon Hoffman

-How will you ensure and evaluate equity across Denver’s programs, policies, and departments both among city communities and among city employees?

Equity means recognizing the barriers that some people face in accessing the city’s resources. Looking from this lens, some immediate needs to address equity include collective bargaining rights for the more than 10,000 city employees outside of Denver Firefighters and Police. Equal opportunities for access to grant funding for nonprofits and the ability to access those funds in advance of spending. Equitable processes for procurement that prioritize local BIPOC and women owned businesses. Fully-funded outreach for programs like rental assistance and eviction defense, so citizens know what is available to them. I am open to other ideas from community.

-What is your vision for Denver’s hospital systems?

Denver’s hospital system is operating at a large deficit because it is triaging the downstream effects of criminalized poverty, which could be addressed through proactive policy upstream. Our government should not conduct “sweeps” of unhoused neighbors ever. We need to use public health dollars to address root causes not to contribute to trauma, hypothermia, frostbite, and dehydration. Our dollars should address substance use disorders and mental health in ways that meet people where they are like, safe injection sites and the STAR program, evidence-based alternatives to arrest that addresses health issues. We must ensure health providers have collective bargaining rights.

-How would you ensure equitable abortion access for women and pregnant people regardless of insurance?

We are fortunate to have a reproductive health center in District 10, but providers are not always accessible across our city. I am interested in leveraging City-owned buildings across Denver for reproductive health care. I would love to see the City funding the costs of travel for folks coming to Denver for care, including lodging. I am interested in what properties our City currently owns that could serve as temporary and/or permanent housing for anyone traveling or moving to Denver because of restrictions on care where they live. I will advance proactive, pro-choice policies that protect patients and providers.