Denver mayor won’t fund “safe parking” for people living in RVs

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In response to the City Council’s budget requests, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said he won’t fund safe parking spaces for people living in RVs.

“While we understand the need underlying this request, we believe the best use of limited resources is to help people move out of RVs and into stable housing,” Johnston wrote in his response to the council’s budget requests. “This is particularly true given past challenges in finding a responsible partner to develop and operate a safe RV parking site.”

Denver homeless czar Cole Chandler said in mid-September that the city would make money available in the 2025 budget to assist people living in their RVs. Chandler said $250,000 has been set aside, which council member Shontel Lewis commented is “not much.” The council and city staff discussed the issue during the budget hearing Wednesday for the Department of Housing and Stability.

In the past, assistance to people living in RVs came in the form of so-called safe parking spaces. These are parking lots where RVs can stay while case managers help them secure stable housing. But Lewis said it is difficult finding land for such places.

Chandler said the city is considering buying broken-down RVs from people experiencing homelessness or allowing them to be exchanged for a down payment on housing.

Complaints about RVs on the rise

Chandler said the city has been receiving less complaints about tent encampments and more complaints about RVs. He said the city tried to increase assistance to people with RVs last year but did not get any responses to a bid for standing up a safe parking space.

The City Council stressed in its budget letter to the mayor that money be made available to assist people living in RVs. “Some form of compensation for that asset as they move indoors” might be possible, Chandler said. He said the city attorney’s office is looking into whether it could be stipulated that compensation be used for a down payment or deposit on an apartment.

Plan to add ‘safe parking’ falls through

The City Council approved a contract in April with the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative to operate two lots for $350,000. The city had tried to double the number of lots. That would have served more than 30 vehicles, including some RVs.

When city staff announced last June that they intended to expand the lots from two to four, the initiative told the council they received more than 1,700 calls for help between October 2017 and May 2022. The existing lots are in council districts four and ten.

At least one of the new lots would have accommodated people with recreational vehicles. Council members said last year calls about RVs parking illegally in the city have multiplied. The planned added lots, which barely would have made a dent in the problem, were proposed by the council after it strengthened the city's clunker ordinance. Aurora also recently toughened its laws regarding RVs.