President Donald Trump is trying to change how U.S. cities approach homelessness — and it could have dramatically different effects in two of Colorado’s largest cities.
Trump last week ordered the government to defund “housing first” policies, such as the city of Denver’s efforts to reduce homelessness by providing housing and shelter with few strings attached.
Instead, the new federal policy would prioritize cities like Aurora — which has embraced a “work first” model.
“I think the city of Aurora will be a beneficiary of the executive order in the short run,” said Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman in an interview with our colleagues at Colorado Today.
The city is set to open the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, a “work first” facility where the best shelter options will be reserved for those who have jobs and are working toward self-sufficiency.
The project has caught the attention of the Trump administration. Scott Turner, the federal housing chief, is expected to visit to celebrate the facility’s opening this November, Coffman said.
“I didn't see this coming, that they would go this far so quickly,” Coffman said in a recent interview with Colorado Today.
He framed it as a “great experiment” that would compare Denver and Aurora’s policies.
“‘Work first’ in and of itself essentially says that from Day One, people should be employed and you can deal with their challenges at the same time that they're working,” Coffman said.
However, many homelessness researchers say “housing first" is effective because it provides people a base from which to recover, protecting them from the dangers of life on the streets.
But Coffman isn’t fully celebrating the presidential attention on “work first.”
He’s worried, he said, to see a president intervening so forcefully in how cities approach their challenges. Aurora may be prioritized for funding now, but a Democratic president could simply undo Trump’s order and realign the nation’s approach to homelessness again.
“Then funding goes from us to ‘housing first,’” he said. “And so there’s this kind of whipsaw effect that I think is problematic. And so really again, I would hope that Congress would address this in a bipartisan way to allow both approaches to occur.”
Of course, it’s not a binary choice. The city of Aurora also plans to offer “low barrier” shelter at its new campus. Meanwhile, the city of Denver has also invested in employment-focused programs, such as the DayWorks program that provides jobs and employment help for people experiencing homelessness.
Meanwhile, Aurora’s project already has bipartisan support.
The city received funding from Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, as well as the state of Colorado, to buy the site. Funding also came from the Biden administration’s American Recovery Plan Act.
Aurora paid $26.5 million for the property and has some $40 million in total funding for the project, according to its website. The program will operate out of the former Crowne Plaza Hotel at Interstate 70 and Chambers Road. It’s expected to open in late 2025.
Trump’s order goes far beyond the “work first” debate. It also pushes cities to crack down on public drug use and urban camping, and even to jail people and force them into treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders.
Coffman said the city doesn’t “force anybody to participate.”
“We’re trying to incentivize participation,” he said.
