Denver’s councilmembers on Monday rejected a $6.4 million three-year contract with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless following a request by Mayor Mike Johnston to do so, saying his administration needs more time to develop a “strong and fair” agreement.

A Colorado Coalition for the Homeless hinted of differences in approaches between the city and the group.  

The contract was meant for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to partner with the Department of Housing Stability until the end of 2026 by supporting efforts to provide housing to homeless people citywide.

Johnston sent a letter to city council on Monday, asking to disapprove the contract.

“I am requesting that the council disapprove the contract in its current form so that my administration can bring forward a contract that better meets expectations,” Johnston said in the letter. “It will also allow my administration and Denver City Council additional time to develop a strong and fair contract that is fiscally responsible and prioritizes accountability to deliver success.”

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless spokesperson Cathy Alderman said the outcome is disappointing. 

“We’re disappointed we got to a place where the mayor’s office told council not to vote for the contract,” Alderman told The Denver Gazette.

“It was happening too quickly,” she said. “The original contract had 90 people being housed over a quarter and that was long term housing support service. They changed that to getting 500 indoors, into pallet shelters, hotels. That’s a different strategy.”

The coalition was concerned with “the difference between housing and long term housing,” Alderman said, adding that resulted in differences of strategies between the coalition and Denver city officials.

“We have to find out what is the difference between housing and long term housing. Not just moving someone into a hotel for a certain period of time,” Alderman said. “Long-term housing is living in with a lease agreement with the responsibility of maintaining property so we can provide supportive services to those houses.”

“We can’t both move 500 people, then house 90 of them,” she added. 

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless offers support services and operates properties, administering roughly 2,300 vouchers each year.

District 9 Councilman Darrell Watson believes where the contract fell short was housing efforts from 2024 through 2026.

“That minimum expectation was then reduced again to 90 households,” he said on the change in housing terms. “That does not, in any way from my perspective as a city councilmember, meet the sense of urgency that the crisis of the unsheltered deserve.”

The resolution was up for vote during last week’s council meeting, but Watson motioned to postpone the vote because he “felt this bill was not the right bill.”

“It did not meet the requirements, the sense of urgency that housing 1,000 has put forward and didn’t speak to the crisis that we’re facing within our communities,” Watson said. 

Johnston vowed to house 1,000 homeless people by year’s end.

Watson said the city should not be using more than $2 million a year of taxpayer dollars “if we do not have a set target of what the city can actually build.”

“Those dollars should be targeted to what the housing we’re providing,” Watson said. 

District 8 Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said she did not consider Johnston’s request in voting ‘no.’

“I believe there is a better opportunity aligned with changing priorities,” she said.

Even though the council rejected the contract, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to revise it for further consideration.

“We hope to bring this contract back to the committee and align it with HOST goals,” Alderman said. “Our hope is we can go back to the negotiating table. The work still has to get done. We know the mayor’s goal is to decommission encampments and move people indoors, and we think we can be a part of that.”