Homelessness has been a central topic of two Denver mayoral debates this month and on Monday unhoused people got their chance to ask questions directly to some of the candidates running to be the city’s next leader. As the sun set behind the city and county building, the candidates gathered (and, at times, shivered) together to face a vocal audience that questioned them on issues ranging from whether they would endorse the use of psychedelic mushrooms as an alternative drug treatment therapy to what they would do to alleviate Denver’s seemingly ever-rising rent prices. One of the most impactful moments of the forum was when Andy Rougeot, who is running an outsider campaign hinging on hiring more police and strictly enforcing the camping ban, was asked if he would stop the sweeps of homeless encampments that have become a hallmark of outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock’s responses to homelessness. Through a chorus of boos, Rougeot defended the need to move people out of unsanctioned campsites and push them into mental health or drug treatment programs. “It is not humane to step over someone sleeping in a tent,” he said, the jeering intensifying as his answer went on.