The Denver City Council on Tuesday will consider spending $475,000 more to help feed immigrants living in shelters.

Denver contracts with Colorado Hospitality Services to provide food at immigrant shelters. Denver’s updated contract with the service, if approved, would add up to a total of $925,000 needed to provide meals to immigrants living in city-provided shelters.

Despite the constant influx of immigrants coming into Denver, the number of immigrants living in shelters has significantly dropped.

Immigrants buoys Denver schools’ enrollment by 200 to 250 students each week

As of Monday, 2,866 immigrants are living in city provided shelters, according to Denver’s immigrant count dashboard.

At a point in mid-January, 5,208 immigrants were living in city shelters. The maximum shelter stay for immigrants is 37 days.

Denver, the dashboard shows, has served approximately 38,656 immigrants coming through or staying here since the beginning of 2023.

Over the past 14 months, the city has welcomed those immigrants — mostly from South and Central America — at a staggering cost: more than $42 million.

Denver taxpayers are shouldering most of that cost. To date, the city has been awarded roughly $14.1 million in state and federal funding.

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Anticipating a budget shortfall of up to $180 million this year, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has called on city departments to find at least 10% in cuts.

Nearly all immigrants arrive homeless and without work authorization.

In other council action:

• A $4,080,000 loan agreement with MHV Partners, LLLP to assist with constructing 102 multi-family, affordable housing units known as The Irving at Mile High Vista in District 3. Complex plans call for studio to three-bedroom apartments for residents earning 20-80% under area median income.
• A resolution with Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver extending its services until June 30, at no additional cost, to complete its scope of work to acquire more affordable housing across the city.
• A $1.6 million agreement with Cicatelli Associates, Inc. to evaluate and report results of those served in the Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids funding program until Aug. 31, 2027.
• A $10 million agreement with TruLink LLC to provide on-call telecommunications cable technician services at citywide facilities until Feb. 1, 2029.
• A bill authorizing $682,400 from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to fund the Community Services Block Grant program in 2024.
• A bill with Denver Health for $1,650,000 to expand services of the Medication Assisted Treatment team serving both Denver County Jail and the Downtown Detention Center until the end of 2026.

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