The Denver City Council approved a plan Monday to spend nearly one-third of its $308 million in COVID-19 recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, advancing the plan for a second and final vote next week.

If passed, the plan would allocate over $100 million of the funds in 2022, with $73.6 million going to recovery efforts, $25.3 million going to restoring city services and $1.3 million going to contract support to assure fund compliance.

The plan passed in an 11-1 vote Monday, with one council member absent and Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer voting no. Sawyer said she opposed the plan because it would delegate $4 million for the expansion of Safe Outdoor Spaces, or managed homeless camps, in the city.

“Recovery funding is meant to be for us to invest in long-term solutions and SOS sites are not a long-term solution,” Sawyer said. “The residents of my district have made it clear that they believe housing requires a roof and a door.”

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Councilman Chris Hinds, whose District 10 housed the city’s first two Safe Outdoor Spaces, defended the funding. Hinds said the program has been transformative, pointing to it as an option for homeless residents who don’t want to be separated from their partners or pets in regular shelters.

“We’re in a housing crisis right now and, while I don’t believe Safe Outdoor Spaces are an appropriate long-term solution, we need middle-term and inter-term solutions,” Hinds said. “The Safe Outdoor Spaces are an amazing option that we added to our tool belt for the city.”

The $25.3 million to restore and supplement city services cut during the pandemic would be split among more than 15 agencies, said City Budget and Management Director Stephanie Adams.

Approximately 70% of the restoration funds would go to the Denver Fire Department ($7.2 million), Denver Police Department ($3.2 million), Department of Transportation and Infrastructure ($3 million), General Services ($2.1 million) and Parks and Recreation ($2 million).

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The $73.6 million for additional recovery efforts in 2022 would be split among three categories: housing and homelessness, community recovery and business recovery.

Housing and homelessness would receive the bulk of the funds with $50.3 million. Of that, major allocations include $28 million for the affordable housing fund, $7.47 million for operations at the 48th Avenue homeless shelter and $4 million for expanding Safe Outdoor Spaces.

Community recovery would get $13.2 million, including $2 million for neighborhood grants, $1.8 million for after school and summer programs, $1.5 million for community safety grants and $1.4 million for childcare and neighborhood centers.

Lastly, business recovery would get $10.1 million, for $5 million in business grants, $2.5 million in downtown support, $2 million for an entrepreneurship center and $600,000 for small business outreach and technical assistance.