 We have somewhere between 9,000 and 12,000 homeless residents inside the city and county of Denver. Good morning guys! Denver police! Anywhere in the city and county of Denver. Excuse me sir. It's illegal for you to actually camp. Denver police! Gotta get up and get moving guys. There's just trash everywhere. I understand about the trash. You gotta look for dirty needles before you start playing and stuff. Ridiculous. Anything that's on this river basin is gonna be gone. Wet. Damaged. Disease. Mold. The stuff that's been abandoned, we need to get it out of there. It's not criminal to be homeless. We're doing this for you guys. These are people that need help. We lack it out here, people. Our goal is to help these people get off the streets. We're shining a light on that darkness. Some jobs are harder than others. Living on the streets, Oh my God! Homeless. May be the toughest job of all. I didn't want to be here today. But for Michael, I've never been married, no kids. The story is different. I'm not your normal homeless. He is anything but. Smile. I don't Facebook or nothing. But you can reach me at MikeyInJesus.com. After seven years on a road that's taken him halfway across America, Michael's seen a lot. But there's one thing he says that never changes. Most of my contemporaries out here are missing. And so, with over a hundred workers from various city agencies on hand. We usually do something on this scale maybe once a year. Operation River Dance. Gotta watch the bikers. Pulls into the home stretch. I'm a big dude. I don't want to knock you down. We come in such masks and hit it in so many different ways. It actually cleans up the area, not just a Band-Aid, but does a lot of good for a long period of time. The remnants of homeless camps are moldy and waterlogged for months of heavy rains. This clearly looks abandoned. We have pooling up water on these tarps, which tells me that nobody's been down here for quite a while. And as the debris is lifted away, the bigger issue emerges. Typically, I'm seeing the same people every day. They're service-resistant, battling mental issues, battling addiction issues, and they choose to live on the streets because it's an easier lifestyle for them. It's a lifestyle choice, Lombardi says. So you've been homeless for 10 years? Yep. An alternative to the mainstream that keeps the persistent homeless out of shelters and down by the Platte River. Do you feel safer out here? Safer, cleaner. The Denver Police homeless outreach team is out to change those perceptions. If you need something, you need to call us, okay? Okay. While the cleanup continues, so does their attempt to reach out to the persistent homeless. They're out here just trying to survive. So if we can do something to help them have a better life, if they can get that help and get off the streets, you know, that's a success for us. Building relationships. Good morning, gentlemen. Do you need anything? Did you have a list of resources? That's the only way the team says they can get more people to help that they need. You know, I have a handful of people that I know that have gotten off the street. And I'd like to believe it has something to do with my relationship that I had with them. And seven years after leaving his home in Georgia, relationships are something Michael has a whole new perspective on. America's something. You can't meet people living and working normally, like you do being homeless, like I've been traveling. With trash trucks to capacity and the Platte River Trail completely made over, there's one less eyesore in Denver. But the issue of persistent homelessness remains. And while DPD's homeless outreach team continues their uphill battle. Just getting somebody into temporary shelter, you know, sometimes that's all you need to get them to stay indoors. Michael has no plans to head back inside anytime soon. There's a big world out there. I still got a lot to see in America. And after that I got the whole world, so I don't know.