Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's goals for coming years focus on crime, homelessness, child care, affordable housing

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston outlined his goals for the city over the next several years, with a focus on crime, filling vacant office space in downtown Denver, homelessness, climate change, and child care.

Johnston announced his plans to address those issues on Monday, while touting falling rent prices, increased foot traffic on 16th Street, and other accomplishments, including "the largest reduction in homicides of any city in the country, largest reduction of homelessness of any city in the country," and providing services for immigrants and immigrant communities in the city.

"Our belief is that in uncertain economic times, public investments make a catalytic impact on making the economy recover," he said at Monday's news conference. "The vision is: everyone who wants to live in Denver can afford to call it home."

Part of his plan includes renovating 3 million of the 7 million square feet of empty office space downtown to convert it into housing. Johnston said about 500 residential units are already in the works.

He also announced plans to build 2,500 more affordable apartments or homes and reduce homelessness by 75% by 2027. Last year, the city saw an overall increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, but a smaller number of those living unsheltered, according to the city's point-in-time count.

"We're actually seeing rents dropping around the city. We're at 5% to 10%, which means they are stabilizing and going down," Johnston said. "So more and more folks working at this rec center, at your favorite restaurant, your child's teacher or nurse, have a chance to stay in this city and afford this city."

A November 2025 report from Zillow showed that about 91% of homes in the Denver metro area lost value over the previous year, at an average of about 9% of their peak value, considerably higher than the nationwide average of 53% of homes.

Johnston also said he wants to reduce firearm homicides by 10%. Earlier this year, Johnston took credit for a 48% reduction in the homicide rate, with police recording 37 homicides in 2025, down from 70 in 2024. It was one of the lowest numbers of annual homicides since 1990, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at the time.

That reduction coincided with, yet also far outpaced, the 20% nationwide average decline in murders from 2024 to 2025. Criminal justice experts told CBS News last week that pinning down an exact cause is difficult, but many experts largely agreed that a normalization in routines, an influx of COVID-19 relief programs, and an increase in criminal intervention programs were responsible.

Johnston said he hopes the reopening of 16th Street — previously called the 16th Street Mall — last October will help tourism and businesses in downtown flourish, saying that in December, the city saw 99% of pre-pandemic foot traffic for the first time since the pandemic.

"16th Street fully, successfully reopened and rebranded," he said. "If you wonder, 'will Denver ever come back from the hard changes of COVID and construction?' it is, and it is only continuing to grow and prosper."

Denver City Councilmember and Council President Amanda Sandoval, whose district includes northwest Denver, said Johnston's goals should be those of all Denver residents. She characterized the goals as "a roadmap for progress that touches every neighborhood, every family, and every business."

"Our annual goals are not just the mayor's, but all of us as residents of Denver," she said. "They represent the collective commitment of this city to make Denver safer, more affordable, and more vibrant."

After the news conference, Johnston took questions from reporters on a tour of the La Alma-Lincoln Park.

At the park, he said that increasing the attractiveness and numbers at parks, in downtown areas, and on buses and trains will also increase their safety. 

"You'll see that as a throughline at all these sites," he said. "It's about both adding safety, but it's also adding the ecosystem changes like the lighting that make it more attractive and safe."

He closed the tour by reiterating the accomplishments he said the city and its officials, agencies, residents, and community organizations have achieved in lowering crime, reducing unsheltered homelessness, and standing up to the federal government on immigration.