Denver City Council voted Monday to deny a city contract with the Salvation Army that would have given the faith-based nonprofit $3 million over three years to provide “rapid rehousing” to 50 families experiencing homelessness.
The contract was called out for a vote by District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis. While speaking to the entire council, she outlined “deep concerns” she had with the Salvation Army.
“There's no reason to approve additional dollars when they have shown that they are not able to keep our communities safe and that they're not willing to be accountable to the safety of our communities,” Lewis said.
Lewis referred to incidents at the Denver Navigation Campus at 4040 N. Quebec St., which is a former DoubleTree hotel. Last year, a man and a woman were found dead at the shelter. Separately, a staff member at the shelter was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually assaulting a shelter occupant.
“To give the Salvation Army any more dollars, a single dollar, moving forward feels very, very, very tone deaf and irresponsible,” Lewis said.
The council voted 10-to-1 to deny the contract, with Councilman Kevin Flynn as the lone supporting vote. Two council members were absent.
A Salvation Army spokesperson said the contract had nothing to do with shelters
Jennifer Forker, the director of communications and marketing at the Salvation Army Intermountain Division, said the money would have been used for a rapid family rehousing program, not the shelter in Councilmember Lewis’ district where the incidents happened.
“Those shelters are for individuals needing sheltering, and also we help them with resources and rehousing,” Forker said. “But this is for families and it's wholly separate.”
Forker defended the Salvation Army’s work in the area, saying the organization helped rehouse 70 families last year.
“We think we're doing the work really well,” Forker said.
Forker added that the organization is not worried about its relationship with the city going forward, and isn't concerned about renewing existing contracts once they expire.
The city’s homelessness programs have come under fire in recent months
One of the first criticisms lobbed at Denver’s homeless shelter system came from the city’s auditor.
Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien criticized Denver’s Department of Housing Stability, or HOST, for poor management. The scathing report says HOST’s shortcomings have led to security concerns, mismanaged spending and violations of discrimination clauses in contracts between faith-based organizations and the city.
O’Brien’s report recommended assessing security at shelters, creating guidelines for handling sensitive information and recruiting staff to fill vacancies. HOST agreed to implement all of those, but a follow-up report has continued to find missteps with the program.
A Denverite investigation found that hundreds of families that live in cars struggle to find shelter and connect with a homeless family emergency hotline. Many struggling families have to call the Salvation Army’s family homelessness hotline dozens of times before getting a response, and recently aired their concerns with the organization with city council.
