Denver’s mayor says they’re on track to house 2,000 people by end of year

DENVER ( KDVR ) — The city of Denver’s “All in Mile High” homelessness initiative to house 2,000 people by the end of 2024 is on track.

One year into office, Mayor Mike Johnston rolled out a new citywide goal specific to homelessness: Reach a total of 2,000 people and move them indoors from unsheltered homelessness by Dec. 31, 2024. The city calls it All in Mile High , and initiative leaders said they’re on track to hit that 2,000 housed goal.

The city said they’re just 50 people shy of that goal, with 1,950 being brought off the streets. With these housing numbers, they’re pausing efforts of adding any new tiny homes or motels, as they’ve done in the past year, with 1,200 current units.

The city projects the total cost from July 2023 to the end of 2024 to be $155 million. That cost was higher due to one-time purchases like land and equipment. The budget for next year will drop to $57 million.

“We are pleased to have delivered the largest single-year reduction in unsheltered homelessness in Denver’s history,” said Cole Chandler, All in Mile High’s deputy director.

But advocates like Amy Beck, with Together Denver claim those numbers are off and there isn’t enough cohesion with the city.

“I don’t see 1,200 units as being adequate to move everyone off of the street because while the mayor is trying to move people off of the streets, more people are falling on the street, so it’s just not having the impact I think that he intended. It’s frustrating because advocates know that we have a large unhoused community that’s still out here and they are just not being given the opportunity to go inside,” Beck said.

Beck said there are families on the street waiting to be placed, while the city’s update showed the percentage of unsheltered families dropped by 83%.

“That is a real priority for us as a city and something that is deeply aligned to our values, so there should not be any family who has to stay outside given our resources and the prioritization that we have,” she said.

The potential issue is actively changing numbers of those on or returning to the streets,
but the city said more people are leaving the program for permanent housing than returning to the streets.

According to the All in Mile High dashboard , of those 1,950 who’ve moved indoors, only 12% have returned to the streets. The average length of stay for residents in All In Mile High shelters, including those who just recently arrived, is 170 days.

“We continue to drive progress towards our goal to ultimately end unsheltered homelessness and that experience for people living on our streets in Denver every single day we are ending that experience of people living on our streets as we are bringing people indoors and to our all in mile high sites,” Chandler said.

The All in Mile High initiative’s ultimate goal is to completely end unsheltered homelessness by 2027.

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