Denver's state of emergency on homelessness will continue through Dec. 31 after City Council voted 10-3 Monday to approve the resolution for the fifth time. Cole Chandler, Mayor Mike Johnston's senior advisor on homelessness resolution, said he expects this vote to be the final extension of the resolution.
While the declaration passed, the vote showed how Council support for Johnston's homelessness approach has splintered in recent months. While Councilmember Amanda Sawyer was initially the sole no-vote in July, Councilmembers Flor Alvidrez and Stacie Gilmore joined her in October and again on Monday.
District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis, who last month said was unsure if she would support another extension, joined the majority Monday night. Her district is hosting a large portion of the shelter units coming online as part of Johnston's goal to get 1,000 people off the streets by the end of 2023.
"Has the process been perfect? Absolutely not," she said. "Many, many missteps have occurred. And I am still committed to making sure that we get folks housed. And so the alternative to getting folks housed is what? What is it that we're supposed to do if we stop these plans? That we asked folks who are literally at risk of losing their limbs or their lives to just stay out while we think about it and while we sit comfortably in our homes? That is absolutely unacceptable."
Hinds compared Monday's concerns over shelters to the opposition to Denver's safe campsites a few years ago. The sites, the first of which opened in Hinds' District 10 in 2020, faced fierce opposition at first. But after a trial period, the safe campsites won the support of many neighbors and former Mayor Michael Hancock. Earlier this year, City Council voted to make that program permanent.
"Once they were operational, people said 'Oh, this is what we were worried about? No, we want this,'" Hinds said. "That's why I've been a consistent supporter of the temporary managed communities."
But City Council's support for the Mayor's plan has slowly fractured over the past few months.
Gilmore and Alvidrez expressed their frustration with the way the Mayor's office has worked and communicated with their offices on the city's homeless resolution efforts.
"I just feel completely played," Alvidrez said. "I just feel incredibly misled when it comes to this emergency order."
Gilmore warned against centralizing shelter sites in lower income communities of color, while wealthier communities can better mobilize opposition. She said the homelessness response "lacks transparency."
"It looks like when you look at the facts that the city acquired this on the backs of Black and Brown people," Gilmore said about some of the shelter locations.
During the previous homelessness resolution vote in October, a number of other Councilmembers told the Johnston administration in October that their future support was not guaranteed. Their concerns ranged from specific questions like about work with local landlords to broader concerns about the administration's long term vision.
Support for the pallet shelter and tiny home sites has begun to splinter among residents as well, as the Mayor's office has rolled back plans at three sites across the city. During Monday's City Council meeting, a number of residents spoke against bringing the sites to their neighborhoods and asked City Council to vote no on the emergency declaration.
Sawyer said that public comment in opposition to many of the sites pushed her to vote no on the resolution on Monday.
The Mayor's office said they expect the emergency declaration to run through the end of 2023, but that things could still change.
In an interview with Axios earlier this month, Johnston recognized that his administration made a "mistake" in the way they defined success toward the goal of housing 1,000 people by the end of 2023. He recognized that the administration might not be able to meet that deadline. To be successful the city would have to house around more than 750 people before the end of the year.
"We're committed to continuing to work towards solutions. And, ultimately, we're committed to continuing to deliver a better Denver for our unhoused residents and our housed residents alike. So, I thank you for the ways that you've supported this progress to date," Chandler said during Monday's Council meeting. "We never know what could happen. Things could change, but our anticipation is not that we would ask for another extension at this point."
Councilmember Sarah Parady emphasized that Denver's housing and homelessness crises will continue past Dec. 31, regardless of the outcome of the emergency order.
"Even if we're no longer in a declared state of emergency on January 1, that's not going to allow us to simply move on at the end of the year," she said. "I so badly wish that we could be there in any near term future. But I'm looking at the eviction figures in the city, I'm looking at the cost of rent, and we are not coming to the end of that work."
Correction: An earlier version of this article included an incorrect vote count of City Council's extension of the resolution.
