The operations center the Johnston’s administration launched last month has hunkered down to pursue what city officials described as five strategies aimed at curbing homelessness in Denver.

More details about the center also emerged on Monday, when city councilmembers extended Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s emergency declaration on homelessness.

Notably, a staff of 75 people have been assigned to the Emergency Operations Center, with representatives from nearly every department and agency in Denver, according to the city.

But it remains unclear how much money has been allocated to Johnston’s efforts in the past month, and the mayor’s homeless czar could not immediately provide key metrics on Monday, including how many homeless people have moved indoors under Johnston’s strategy.

“We are in a time period where that quantitative information, or those key metrics, is going to take a little more time to deliver,” said Cole Johnston’s senior homelessness advisor. “The first strategy is outreach and the encampment decommissioning model.”

The overwhelming majority of the city council appears to support Johnston’s strategy – or they’re at least willing to extend his emergency declaration.    

The lone dissenting vote among councilmembers came from District 5 Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, in part because administration officials provided no financial updates.

“We have been provided very little information on the financial process,” said Sawyer, who added she is particularly worried about the transparency of financial implications arising out of Johnston’s campaign to solve the city’s soaring homeless crisis.

Chandler said the structure is that city employees staff the emergency center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“And then they go back to their day jobs in the afternoon,” he said.

Denver Emergency Management Deputy Director Dave Powell told councilmembers that the emergency center is a “very powerful tool to get things done quickly.”

“However, it does draw from resources across the city. That’s what makes it so effective,” Powell said. “We have to make sure we are balancing that.”

The five strategies adopted by the Johnston administration includes assisting homeless people, especially those who live in encampments. They also include building micro communities, providing housing resources, converting hotels into housing units and outreach to homeless people before an encampment “decommissioning.”

Denver extends anew Johnston’s emergency declaration on homelessness

Johnston started his first full day in office July 18 by declaring an emergency, vowing to end homelessness by the end of his first term and promising to house at least 1,000 people by year’s end. The city council extended his emergency declaration until Sept. 18, the second time in a month an extension was granted. 

The city’s Emergency Operations Center – which is not open to homeless people – is tasked with deploying the homeless emergency initiative. It’s the first time emergency operations have been deployed to address the city’s homeless crisis, according to Chandler.

Here’s a list of cooling centers in Denver

“We have been at work in the Emergency Operations Center designing what will become a publicly facing dashboard,” the homeless advisor told councilmembers Monday.

The dashboard is meant to identify “the most key, high-level metrics,” Chandler said.

He also sought to explain the rational behind the emergency declaration, saying it creates “buy-in from all department heads who dedicate key staff to this initiative.” The council’s support for the emergency declaration, Chandler said, allows for interagency collaboration. 

Emergency Operations Center metrics involve the number of homeless people who have moved indoors and the number of encampments it “decommissions through housing,” Chandler said.

Johnston described “decommissioned through housing” as shutting down encampments, while simultaneously matching people there with a housing unit. That didn’t happen after the first encampment sweep earlier this month, as city officials admitted there was no shelter space available to move homeless people to.

Chandler said the number of people in encampments rose from 600 in 2019 to 1,400 in 2023.

Expert warns Denver mayor: ‘Housing first’ approach won’t work without tackling drug addiction

Building micro communities – a group of 70-square-feet or 120-square-feet homes – is a key component of Johnston’s strategy. Johnston’s administration has also labeled refurbished vacated hotels or motels as a form of micro community for homeless people.

The administration’s strategy also includes trash pickups and installing encampment bathrooms. The Johnston administration claims those tactics, along with the launch of the Emergency Operations Center, have “proved successful.”

“We will be providing qualitative updates to you on a weekly basis,” Chandler said. “We are hopeful to bring you along the qualitative side as well as one day the quantitative side when that dashboard goes live.” 

A total of $152 million was allocated to homelessness in 2022. This year, the city set aside $254 million to tackle homelessness.

As of Jan. 30, the seven-county metro Denver region had 9,065 homeless people compared to 6,884 last year – a 32% jump in homelessness – based on the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative count. The count is an annual point-in-time, unduplicated survey of people who are homeless on a single night in January each year.

Out of all the seven counties, Denver had the biggest increase with 5,818 homeless people, up from 4,794 last year.

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of “unsheltered” homeless people in Denver – those sleeping in public places, such as on the street, in tents or in cars – grew by 33% from 2,078 to 2,763.