Mayor Mike Johnston has made it clear for weeks: For Denver to continue supporting migrants at current levels and without additional federal support in 2024, it would cost the city 10% of its annual general fund budget.
Now, behind the scenes, he's asking agencies led by mayoral appointees to cut spending so those dollars can be reallocated to fund the city's migrant response.
At the end of December, Johnston told Denverite that scale of cuts would be untenable, and the city would instead have to scale back its efforts to shelter and house migrants. The consequences of cutting all migrant shelter, an unlikely possibility, could leave thousands on the street.
Currently, more than 4,700 people are in city-run shelters, according to Laura Swartz with the Department of Finance. In total, the city has spent more than $38 million in its response efforts.
Shuttering all city shelters would leave several thousand migrants homeless in winter, potentially putting more than four times the number of people experiencing homelessness, many children, on the streets than Johnston managed to shelter in his House1000 campaign.
"While we are advising newcomers that our migrant shelters are nearly at capacity, we are continuing to see a steady stream of new arrivals, with 200 new people who have arrived in just the past two days," Swartz explained in an email. "If the pace of this humanitarian crisis need continues in 2024 as it has over the past few months of 2023, Denver's migrant sheltering expenses could reach as high as $15 million per month."
Denver has received or will receive nearly $11 million in reimbursements from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but Johnston has joined Mayor Eric Adams of New York and Brandon Johnson of Chicago for more federal support.
"Mayor Johnston has been relentlessly advocating for an increase in federal support as well as expansions of work authorizations for migrants," Johnston's spokesperson Jordan Fuja told Denverite in a statement. "However, given the recent surge, we cannot afford to wait for federal interventions, and out of an abundance of caution, he has asked city agencies to begin evaluating areas we can put measures in place to ensure we will have the funds needed to address this challenge and maintain a balanced budget."
So what does that look like?
"As a proactive step, all Mayoral appointees are being encouraged to identify potential savings within their agencies," Swartz explained. "However, this is only one of multiple strategies the city will employ to ensure we have the funds needed to address this challenge and maintain a balanced budget. And it is too early right now to say what specific savings will be until we have had the time to work with agencies."
City officials did not offer specific city services or measures that would be interrupted by the cuts, but Swartz said Johnston is not considering cutting salaries, freezing raises or slashing benefits.
"It is too early right now to say what our savings targets will be," Swartz said. "The city will use multiple strategies to fund this gap, which will likely include identifying significant savings within agencies, holding non-essential positions vacant, and carefully reviewing new or expanded contracts and programs."
Johnston's also creating additional oversight over city programs that have been in the works and are on the cusp of being announced, as that programming could be delayed or cut.
"We have asked agencies to allow the Mayor's Office to review press releases," Fuja told Denverite. "We are doing this to ensure the projects the city is announcing have been approved by the budget team and we're aligned on our work during this critical time."
Rebecca Tauber contributed reporting to this story. This is a developing story.
