Denver Mayor Mike Johnston faces a decision whether to acquiesce to the City Council’s decision to ban homeless encampment sweeps during frigid conditions — or veto it.

The mayor’s office earlier said the ordinance, which a divided council approved on Monday, will limit the city’s ability to keep people safe.

Supporters insisted that moving homeless people during freezing temperatures is “inhumane,” while some critics view the ordinance as flying in the face of the city’s camping ban, which voters upheld. 

Johnston is likely to decide which course of action to take before the weekend, according to a spokesperson. Meanwhile, councilmembers expect the mayor to make his decision at the end of day Friday.

Johnston has five days after receiving the ordinance to either veto, sign or allow it to become law without a signature.  

The councilmembers approved the ordinance more than a decade after the city prohibited “unauthorized urban camping” on public and private spaces. Denver’s business community backed the camping ban, which faced multiple legal and political challenges in subsequent years.

The camping ban survived two ballot attempts to overturn and modify it. In 2019, Denver residents soundly rejected a proposal to overturn it.

In November 2021, another ordinance asked residents to approve an amendment that required the city to enforce the ban but also to establish four authorized camping locations. Voters rejected that measure, too.

Some city leaders fear the newly-approved ordinance limits Johnston’s ability to move people indoors — and keep them safe — during cold weather.

“I urge the mayor to veto this bill,” District 2 Councilmember Kevin Flynn told The Denver Gazette. “The guiding principle for every one of our policies around homelessness should be getting a roof over people’s heads, especially in winter conditions.”

Flynn said the ordinance “obviously” goes against the city’s camping ban, describing it as “the farthest thing from treating people with compassion and dignity.”

Supporters said the city can still sweep encampments — just not on those days when it’s freezing.

“We have people who recognize how cruel and inhumane it is to sweep people in freezing temperatures,” Amy Beck told The Denver Gazette during the council’s vote on Monday.

Others said it’s the wrong move.

Dawn McNulty, a Denver resident, called it “a preposterous measure that will have the opposite of intended effects.”

“People will still get frostbite, hypothermia, and die in overdoses in tents,” she said. 

If Johnston rejects the ordinance, the City Council can override his veto with a two-thirds vote. But getting nine councilmembers to support such a move is unlikely, given that the City Council saw its closest vote in its six-month term when it narrowly approved the ordinance, 7-6.

Denver’s camping ban requires a verbal warning from enforcement officers for people to leave, and, if they do not comply, a written warning.

The third requirement says services need to be offered — by way of shelter or medical care — to those being moved out of an encampment, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

The new ordinance, which prohibits sweeps when the temperature goes below 32 degrees, “essentially adds a fourth requirement” — that the sweep happens above that threshold, said Marley Bordovsky, director of prosecution and code enforcement at the City Attorney’s Office.

At-large Councilwoman Sarah Parady has described sweeping encampments in freezing weather as “inhumane.”

Darrell Watson, one of the six councilmembers who voted no, said everybody worries about the “detrimental impact of folks living in encampments.”

“My primary focus to reduce frostbite and reduce the impacts to communities living in encampments is to find them shelter and to move them indoors,” Watson said. 

“Mayor Johnston’s first priority is keeping Denverites safe and healthy,” a mayor’s office spokesperson also said. “We know that cold temperatures pose a serious danger to people living outdoors, and this proposal will limit the actions the city can take to keep people safe.”

Johnston immediately focused on curbing the city’s homelessness crisis upon taking office last July. The administration moved 1,135 homeless people into temporary, non-congregate shelters last year.

His pledge has come at a high cost to taxpayers.

The city spent $45 million to get 1,000 homeless people off of the city’s streets last year, and Johnston plans to spend an additional $50 million to get another 1,000 homeless people off the streets this year.

A key part of Johnston’s strategy is sweeping homeless encampments, and then offering people temporary shelter. So far, his administration has shut down 10 encampments.