Since late February, 2024 until now, Aurora, Colorado Mayor Mike Coffman has spent every Friday night sleeping on a cot at the 600-bed Aurora Regional Navigation Campus instead of going home. While the mayoral election in Aurora is legally nonpartisan, Mayor Coffman is a long-time conservative Republican.
Every Saturday morning, he helps serve breakfast and spends time talking with people experiencing homelessness — not for a publicity stunt, but to better understand their struggles and evaluate whether the city’s programs are actually working.
He previously spent a full week undercover on the streets in 2021 – sleeping in encampments and shelters – which helped inspire the facility’s tiered program focused on moving people toward jobs and housing.
Rather than managing the issue from behind a desk, Mayor Coffman says the firsthand experience has made him more compassionate and has helped identify areas where the shelter can improve.
“One thing I’ve learned is how complex everything is, and individualized. You can’t categorize people in any particular group. You have to see them as individuals. Quite frankly, it’s made me more compassionate,” Mayor Coffman says.
Coffman said he started sleeping at the shelter because he wanted to see how the Navigation Center’s services were working and find out where improvements could be made.
He plans to continue the weekly routine until the facility’s model becomes an example other cities can follow.
My Commentary:
There is a world of difference between looking down at people who are homeless and sitting down beside them.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman has chosen the second approach.
By sleeping in a shelter and sharing breakfast with its residents, he is learning something no government report can fully explain: Homelessness is not simply a problem to be solved. It involves people who need to be understood.
Jesus understood this beautifully. He did not minister to the poor from a distance. He walked among them, ate with them, listened to their stories, and treated them with dignity.
When Jesus encountered someone suffering, He did not begin by asking, “What did you do wrong?”
He often began with a question: “What do you want me to do for you?” That is the difference between judgment and compassion.
Mayor Coffman’s example reminds us that good leadership begins with listening. Every person experiencing homelessness has a name, a history, a struggle, and a hope.
Certainly, compassion alone cannot solve homelessness. We need effective programs, affordable housing, employment opportunities, and responsible government.
But compassion must guide those efforts.
Jesus never asked us merely to feel sorry for the poor. He asked us to love them.
And sometimes love begins by pulling up a chair, sitting down, and listening.
What goes through YOUR mind when you see a homeless person on the street?
Would you like the people you will be voting for on November 3rd to do what Mayor Coffman has been doing? Why do you say that?
MAY THE LIGHT OF YOUR SOUL ALWAYS SHINE INTO THE WORLD AS KINDNESS!
