The Denver Department of Housing Stability released a draft of its five-year plan to address homelessness Wednesday, asking Denver residents to submit feedback on the plan.

The plan consists of 14 goals for the city to achieve by 2026, as well as strategies and tactics to achieve the goals.

• Create and preserve 7,000 homes
• Preserve 950 income-restricted rentals
• Create equitable access to housing options that meet residents’ affordability needs, provide opportunity to increase wealth through home ownership and improve their quality of life
• Make it so residents experience homelessness rarely and, if they do, it is brief and one-time
• Measurably end veteran homelessness
• Reduce unsheltered homelessness by 50%
• Increase the number of people who exit shelter into housing from 30% to 40%, and families from 25% to 50%
• Reduce the average length of time residents experience homelessness to 90 days
• Reduce eviction filings by 25%
• Increase households served in rehousing and supportive housing programs from 1,800 to 3,000
• Help address gentrification with policies that prioritize affordable housing for residents at risk of or who have been involuntarily displaced
• Provide residents with the choice in when and under what circumstances they move or remain in their homes and neighborhoods
• Increase homeownership among low- and moderate-income households, with a focus on households that are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Reduce contract and procurement time

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“With homelessness on the rise and more than one-third of Denver residents struggling to keep up with housing costs, it is important to continue to prioritize our citywide commitment to affordable housing,” said Britta Fisher with the Department of Housing Stability. “This plan relates how our work will continue to be person-centered, trauma-informed, data-driven and culturally responsive.”

The finalized plan will guide how the Department of Housing Stability invests resources and creates policy regarding housing stability and homelessness, Fisher said.

From 2010 to 2017, the number of homeless residents in the Denver metro area dropped from 8,752 to 5,116, according to annual surveys. But since 2017, that population grew, reaching 6,104 in 2020. Of those homeless residents, 1,561 are unsheltered.

The release of the draft comes after Mayor Michael Hancock named addressing homelessness as his top priority in his final two years in office during the State of the City address last month.

In the address, Hancock said he would increase homeless shelters including hotel and motel rooms, tiny home villages, managed homeless camps and safe parking spaces.

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In addition, Hancock said the city will expand housing vouchers, rental and utility assistance, eviction-protection programs and affordable housing, putting $28 million of federal recovery funds into Denver’s Affordable Housing Fund, pending approval by the City Council.  

“We are going to continue to deploy every tool available, with a goal of lifting thousands of people out of homelessness over the next two years, including those who are living on our streets in the most unsafe and unhealthy of conditions,” Hancock said. “We know what works, and we’re going to do even more and even better.”

The public feedback survey is available at denvergov.org and will be open for responses until Sept. 3. The full plan draft can be found at denvergov.org and will be presented at virtual community meetings on Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. and Aug. 24 at 5:30 p.m.

After the public review period, the department will finalize the plan for presentation to City Council in November.