Homeless advocates, Denver council leaders express concern over extending emergency declaration on homelessness
For the third time, the Denver City Council extended an emergency declaration on homelessness to confront the ongoing crisis in the Denver metro area, with this latest extension lasting until Nov. 13.
Extending the emergency declaration speeds up the process for permitting and construction and gives access to funding. However, some residents experiencing homelessness say they have not been impressed with Mayor Mike Johnston's plan to house 1,000 people by the end of the year.
"It's [really] unrealistic what's happening," said Mark Doyle, who has been experiencing homelessness in Denver for nearly 10 years. "It doesn't take $48 million to house 1,000 people."
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It's been Johnston's plan to use more than $48 million in funding from this year's budget to support the purchase of hotels, building micro-communities and providing other rapid rehousing support to get people off the streets.
However, people experiencing homelessness and advocates for the homeless population protested outside of the Denver City and County Building on Monday saying the mayor has not fulfilled some of his initial promises.
"Specifically, when coming into office, the mayor made some promises on when and how he was going to conduct sweeps. He said that sweeps should be times to connect people to housing opportunities and people really shouldn't just be swept from block to block," said Terese Howard, an organizer with Housekeys Action Network Denver.
Despite that promise, Howard says people experiencing homelessness continue to migrate to new blocks across the city. Even though some people did get put into one of the city's owned hotels following a sweep of encampments across from the Governor's mansion, she says it feels like the administration is prioritizing those that are visible over vulnerable.
"Things like people being in a wheelchair, unable to get around properly. Things like people that are running from domestic violence or dangerous situations, these are people that we need to prioritize," she said.
Members in the council chamber shared similar questions about the mayor's plan to house 1,000 people by the end of the year.
"My concern with moving so quickly is that we're cutting corners and I want to make sure we aren't," said Councilmember Flor Alvidrez.
Councilmember Amanda Sawyer, who has previously voted against the emergency declaration, says she still cannot support it, given ongoing concerns related to proposed sites to host micro-communities and pallet homes.
RELATED: Some proposed Denver pallet home locations neighbor residences, sparking some initial concern
"We are talking about putting housing first locations where people who sometimes have substance use issues are allowed to use those substances closer than 1000 feet to daycare centers and schools," she said. "It's non-congruent. It doesn't make sense to me."
Council leaders also questioned Cole Chandler, the city's senior advisor for homelessness resolution, on what permanent housing options will be included in the mayor's plan.
"There are contracts forthcoming, one is with the Salvation Army, which would support rapid rehousing dollars for up to 200 households," said Chandler. "Those will be specifically for people that have moved into the non-congregate shelter hotel, have stabilized, been able to work with case management and navigate out."
He added, "We have another contract that we're in process on with a company that would do the landlord recruitment piece, so they will go out and work directly with landlords and identify available units…Then they'll connect back with a service provider, whether that person is coming directly from the streets or coming from one of the non-congregate shelters or micro-communities."
Despite the uncertainty, a majority of the council still remain optimistic the city is moving forward in the right direction to end homelessness.
"What I do appreciate is we're all on the field playing that we are going to take some tumbles and you get hit hard, and you get back up and you figure it out," said Councilmember Diane Romero Campbell. "And so, I'm committed to being able to figure this out."
