Denver City Council on Monday approved a $1.17 million contract for health services at some of the city’s homeless shelters — months after the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless started doing the work.
For nearly half a year, the nonprofit homeless service provider has been working without pay at Mayor Mike Johnston’s All In Mile High shelters. The slow process has had an impact, with CCH slowly losing capacity, reducing medical care and delaying hiring nurses.
“We can't hire new ones until we get paid for the contract,” Cathy Alderman, a spokesperson for the Coalition, told Denverite in early May. “It impacts our ability to meet the contract requirements for the full year, because we're so late getting the contract through.”
What the coalition's role would be going forward was debated
Meanwhile, council members debated whether the organization was the right fit to continue its existing work providing health care at the non-congregate shelters.
Over the past few months, Councilmember Darrell Watson raised concerns that the Coalition was unable to demonstrate patient outcomes. Alderman said patient outcomes were not something her organization could disclose because of privacy laws.
The contract finally made its way out of committee in late May, with lingering questions from Watson. It appeared before the council on Monday night.
While it was originally listed as part of the consent agenda, where it could have passed without debate, Watson called it out for a vote, asking his colleagues to oppose it.
Watson argued on Monday the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless did not provide enough data. The city needs to know the money is being well used, he said.
The original contract, he said, did not require data specific to health outcomes. He also argued the city did not require a competitive bid for the contract and should have had one.
Councilmember Sarah Parady said on Monday that the All In Mile High contracting situation has been hard to understand. She noted that the contract is moving between agencies – first overseen by the Department of Housing Stability to the Department of Public Health and Environment. The move will likely allow for greater data collection, she said.
The delay in firming up the contract had some city council members apologizing.
“We're bad actors,” said City Council President Amanda Sandoval, who voted to postpone the contract decision, in May. “We're bad business partners. To not pay someone for four months, you would go to collections in the real world.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnston praised the Coalition’s work and said contracts can take time to consider — even if the work has already begun.
The contract was approved on a 10-3 vote, with council members Watson, Shontel Lewis and Chris Hinds voting against it.
