Long before Mike Johnston promised to end homelessness in four years, the city's Department of Housing Stability published a five-year plan to address housing instability in Denver.
That plan offered measured, if not Johnston-era audacious goals, like increasing income-restricted homes from 7% to 8%; reducing the number of evictions by 25%; and reducing unsheltered homelessness by 50%.
With a massive rise in home costs and in the wake of the pandemic, a lot of that hasn't happened, despite the agency's ongoing work. In Denver, evictions are up, and so is homelessness -- both mirroring national trends.
But the department, set up in 2019 by Mayor Michael Hancock, has been dutifully releasing yearly goals since that five-year plan came out.
Ahead of 2024, the agency has done it again. And this time, HOST has aligned its work on the department's Five-Year Strategic Plan with Johnston's House1000 plan to put 1,000 people into indoor shelters for at least 14 days.
The document itself, spanning 57 pages, contains a wealth of information about how the city plans to address homelessness and housing insecurity.
In a statement, HOST outlined some of the big priorities in the draft plan:
Have thoughts on how to improve it?
The agency is presenting the document and taking public feedback next week, online, at 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 16.
You can sign up for the Zoom here.
After the feedback is collected, HOST will present the draft to the Housing Stability Strategic Advisors so that it can be adopted before the end of the year.
