The micro-community site for people experiencing homelessness on S. Santa Fe Drive will move forward after City Council unanimously passed an approximately $2.25 million contract with the Colorado Village Collaborative on Monday.
But the final version of the contract represents a compromise between the neighborhood and the Mayor Mike Johnston's office.
The site was originally supposed to include 150 units, which was then dropped to 120 and would have cost $3.8 million. But after community pushback postponed the contract, the final version of the site will include 60 units.
During Council meetings and in emails with the Mayor's office, Overland residents expressed concerns about safety, overcrowding and the site's location near a school bus stop. Residents pointed to the fact that the area only has 111 single-family homes, which meant original plans for the site would have included more micro community units than houses in the area.
District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez, who represents the area where the site will be located, expressed concerns about the original plans for more than 100 units.
"When I see other microsites get canceled and canceled and all I'm asking for is a little bit of compromise," she said last month in response to the original 120-unit plan. "It's a slap in the face to the residents of Overland."
Denverite reached out to Alvidrez for comment following Monday's vote.
In response, the Mayor's office reduced capacity to 60 units.
It's possible that capacity could expand in the future, which was a sticking point with community members. But for that to happen, City Council would need to approve more units.
"We have also agreed with Councilmember Alvidrez that before any consideration of an expansion of the site we would have a six month pause before we began consideration of that," said Cole Chandler, the Mayor's senior advisor on homelessness resolution.
It's all part of Johnston's goal to get 1,000 out of encampments and off the streets by the end of 2023, relying largely on converted hotels and micro community sites consisting of pallet shelters and tiny homes. But in the months since, a number of communities near these proposed sites have been canceled, with city officials citing a lack of nearby resources and infrastructure issues as reasons behind some of the cancellations. A number of neighborhoods including Overland have pushed back on micro-communities in their area.
City Council also passed a number of other contracts pushing forward Johnston's House1000 initiative.
One contract with The Gathering Place will cost the city around $1.45 million on site operations and case management for residents at one of the city's micro-community sites. Another $4.25 million contract with Satellite Shelters, Inc. will fund 14 community buildings at the micro-communities. They will host site administration, eating spaces, laundry, bathrooms and space for case management meetings.
Johnston's administration has moved about 300 people indoors so far, with plans to close another encampment and offer shelter to around 200 more people in the next few weeks.
