Denver has accomplished much after one year under Mayor Mike Johnston, he said in his State of the City speech Monday, but he added there is still much to do if the city is to become a “vibrant” hometown and “capital of the New West.”
During the roughly half hour speech at the historic Paramount Theatre near the 16th Street Mall, Johnston highlighted the success of his homelessness program, the city's quick response to an illegal immigration crisis, and an ongoing effort to reinvigorate places throughout the city that includes downtown.
Most of all, Johnston praised what he called Denver residents' “indomitable spirit,” willing to lend a hand to make his vision become reality.
Johnston’s speech primarily focused on several of the same issues and plans he highlighted during his inauguration speech in 2023. His main goal was to mitigate Denver’s homelessness crisis, which he said previous administrations had failed to address adequately, and the first step in that process was housing 1,000 people living on the streets without shelter.
He declared a city emergency on his first day and the city has since managed to house just under 1,700 people, according to city data.
“There were a thousand reasons people said we couldn’t succeed. And this year we will mark a major milestone toward this journey to end street homelessness by focusing on one of our most vulnerable populations: veterans,” he said. “Those who have risked their lives for our country deserve the decency of stable housing. That is why we are proud to share that by the end of 2024, Denver is on the path to become the largest American city ever to end street homelessness for veterans.”
Johnston announced his efforts aiming to end veteran homelessness in early June, one day before the 80th anniversary of the World War II landings in Normandy, France. In that news conference, Johnston said the city is trying to reach what is known as “functional zero” for veterans, meaning more veterans exiting shelter find a home than end up back on the streets, and he said Denver will be the first city to do so.
However, this doesn't appear to be the case. On May 22, Dallas officials declared an effective end to veteran homelessness. And in 2015, New York City – citing federal officials – claimed to have ended chronic veteran homelessness.
Citywide, more than 400 people have found some kind of permanent housing. These include rented units, assisted living facilities and reunification with family. However, 188 people have ended up back on the streets, 12 have died, 34 are in jail and the city does not know the whereabouts of 53 people, according to the city homelessness dashboard.
“But our work is not done,” he said. “We have much more to do to bring more people off the streets and to help people in transitional housing get placed into permanent housing. This historic effort has not been easy, and it has not been without mistakes. But in it you can see the blueprint for what our city can do.”
Indeed, the city has overspent on homelessness by about $65 million, according to a report from city officials. This represents more than the estimated ongoing cost of "All in Mile High" — which Department of Finance officials said will be budgeted at $57.5 million in 2025 – and brings city spending to a total of roughly $155 million in 18 months, according to one city councilmember.
The issue of money has also caused councilmembers to begin questioning the need for more spending on homeless services, with some outright opposing new contracts.
And the continued spending on homelessness coincides with an ongoing illegal immigration crisis the city initially scrambled to address. In total, more than 42,000 immigrants — many of whom fled their homes and crossed into the United States illegally — have come through or remained in Denver.
He said this was the largest per capita gain anywhere in the country, but this claim could not be immediately verified by The Denver Gazette. The immigration challenge was an unexpected one for Johnston, his administration and residents, so he took time to praise those who addressed it head on.
Johnston levied the blame for the influx of immigrants squarely on a governor, whom he didn’t name, who he said sees immigrants not as people, but as a problem that would break and divide the city. Moments later, however, he said it would have been easy to blame someone else and give up or give in and in the same breath praised Denver for doing something different.
“In this crisis, Denver saw not problems but possibility, and the people of this city responded in heroic ways,” he said. “We rolled up our sleeves and believed even this problem was solvable. We put thousands of people through free legal clinics to get work authorization, we moved thousands of people into housing, and we launched the country’s first asylum-seekers program that helps our newcomers get what they need most: a job.”
In April, Denver imposed a hiring freeze and appropriated roughly $90 million from its previously approved budget to address the immigration crisis. This included roughly $43 million in cuts from the Department of Public Safety, though city officials were quick to emphasize that residents would not see a reduced number of officers on the streets. Furthermore, the Denver International Airport will pick up the tab for the existing cohort of Denver Police Academy cadets.
Throughout his speech, Johnston recalled a teacher named Daniella who fled Venezuela with her husband and child. Her husband, a small business owner, spoke out against the government and was arrested for it several times, according to Johnston, prompting the family to pack everything up and brave the 3,000-mile journey north to the U.S.
Both Daniella and her husband have found work in Denver: She is a teacher at a school geared toward teaching kids from immigrant families how to transition into an “American school,” and her husband is a chef at a local restaurant, Johnston said.
“In Denver, the American Dream is still alive and well,” he said.
But many still struggle to pay rent, and Johnston acknowledged this, asking for residents' support for a new sales tax rate increase that will ostensibly fund building 20,000 permanently affordable housing units over the next several years. These will be made permanently affordable through deed restrictions rather than rent control, which Johnston opposes and said does not work.
The 0.5 percent increase will, if approved by voters in November, be tacked on with another proposed increase put forth by the city council of .34% for Denver Health. If both are approved, Denver will have the highest sales tax rate of any large city in the state’s Front Range at 9.65 percent.
His proposal faces a difficult road ahead in the City Council, which has already seen members voting against sales taxes, calling them the “most regressive” form of finding new money. Johnston defended his proposal by saying it will only cost Denverites about $2 per week.
“It is the issue that is threatening the vitality of this city the most. We want to make sure this remains a city where everyone feels welcome and included, where we don’t push people out of neighborhoods,” Johnston said in an interview with The Denver Gazette after the address. “We’re six months into the goals we laid out for this year. So, what we’re doing now, is setting our goals for 2025 and then aligning our budget with those goals.”
The city budget will emerge in September and must be approved by the City Council by November. The mayor did not highlight any specific future investments or major changes when asked, saying it is still too early in the process to realistically give that information.
Johnston concluded his State of the City address by encouraging residents to look to Denver in times of hardship and see an example of a community coming together, especially during what he called “uncertain times.”
He reiterated a comment he’s used throughout his time in office before concluding his speech to a standing ovation — the second of the day.
“The world will flood you with examples of hatred and division and dysfunction,” Johnston said. “Here in this capital of the New West, where the mountains are tall and the rivers are deep, people believe in each other, and they lean on each other, and they fight for each other, fortified by the deep belief that all our problems are solvable, and we are the ones to solve them.”
Local Denver, CO
Most Popular
Comments / 0