Denver mayor defends strategy, insists 'success' mirrors Houston

Despite the increase in homelessness in the city, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's administration defended its strategy and insisted that its "success" mirrors cities like Houston, Texas.

A mayor's spokesperson insisted that Denver saw one of the largest reductions in "unsheltered" homelessness nationwide, and its gains are on par with Houston — widely regarded as a national leader in tackling homelessness — over the course of six months, the time between when Johnston took office and the point in time count conducted in January.

“The argument that our strategy isn’t working is factually wrong,” spokesperson Jordan Fuja said. “All In Mile High started in July of 2023 and the bulk of move-ins happened in December… Houston’s strategy and Denver’s strategy are markedly different due to the stark differences in cost of living, available housing, and general space."

For a city with limited space and available housing, Denver, she said, found a way to "mirror Houston’s success.”

Denver, which is on track to spend nearly $155 million on the mayor's homelessness campaign, saw its total number of homeless people balloon from 5,818 last year to 6,539 this year. And the city saw only 150 fewer "unsheltered" homeless people when compared to last year's count — data that puzzled one councilmember and led another to accuse the Johnston administration of having a "spend first, ask questions later mindset."

Data from the Coalition for the Homeless shows that the Houston-Harris County area reduced its "unsheltered" population — individuals who live in public spaces, such as parks and under bridges — by 135.

Denver reduced this population by 150.

While the two areas both saw increases in the total population, Denver's increase was bigger at 721, a 12% increase from the year before.

The Houston-Harris region, meanwhile, saw only 10 more homeless people in 2024.

Fuja attributed the total increase to people losing their jobs, inability to pay rent or mortgage and relationship issues or a family breakup, pointing to similar conclusions from the authors of the point in time count.

“Also notable, eviction rates in Denver are at an all-time high because people cannot afford the high cost of living here,” she said. “Without housing, it’s easy to fall into homelessness, whether that’s living on the street, living in a car, or going to a shelter — all of which contribute to the number of people experiencing homelessness in data.”

Johnston is pushing for a 0.5-point sales tax increase the city said will generate $100 million and fund affordable housing. Alongside another tax hike proposal aimed at funding Denver Health, the two measures would make Denver the jurisdiction with the highest sales taxes in the metropolis and Northern Colorado. The new rates would rival Colorado's resort and mountain towns.

Rather than talk about the overall increase, the Johnston administration focused on gains among some sub-populations, notably an 83% reduction in "unsheltered" family homelessness and a 23% decrease in tent and vehicle-based homelessness.

“We are constantly looking to improve and evolve our strategy, and we have invested in and built a very strong foundation for long-term success,” Fuja said. “That first started with changing the way we approached encampments, moving entire encampments indoors and permanently closing that site to future camping, rather than moving a few people and just sweeping the rest of the encampment down the block.”

District 11 Councilmember Stacie Gilmore took issue with the “hyper-focus” on specific segments of the homeless population, saying it makes it hard to fully coordinate the city response and address the problem. She also criticized Johnston for citing data from the annual count as a reason to push for his sales tax hike proposal.

Gilmore said there’s been no discussion about mortgage assistance. Homeowners living paycheck to paycheck because of Denver’s high cost of living are at just as high a risk of becoming homeless as others, she said.

“We can’t just go build a whole bunch of brand new units and not take care of the people who are paying property and sales tax in Denver,” she said. “They’ve kept the city running for decades, and we’re just not talking about them.”

Denver’s general fund, which pays for public-facing services, derives close to two-thirds of its revenue from the combination of property and sales and use taxes.

The councilmember said she also worries that the mayor is simply shuttling people into Denver's poorest neighborhoods, especially those within what the city calls the “inverted L,” a collection of neighborhoods, mostly on the north side of Interstate 70 and the west side of Interstate 25.

Gilmore's district includes Montbello, one of the neighborhoods in the inverted L. She said she is concerned about the concentration of poverty in the area and she worries the mayor’s focus is simply to make downtown look good — and not address the systemic issues that cause homelessness in the first place.

“I think it’s a good assumption that the point in time count is an undercount of the true numbers of people experiencing housing instability, and I want to know what the real numbers are,” she said. “We need to get better data quarterly so we can see the trends and be proactive instead of only trying to address the issue when they’re visible.”