The Denver City Council unanimously approved a funding agreement worth $3.1 million to assist the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless with rehabilitating 107 hotel rooms into studio apartments. 

The rooms being rehabilitated sit within the former Clarion Hotel at 200 W. 48th Ave. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless will add services geared towards assisting homeless people and those at risk of becoming homeless. Once completed, the property will be known as Renewal Village.

The Clarion Hotel is the third hotel the city has converted to a shelter as part of an ongoing strategy to address homelessness in Denver. The city’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) has worked to convert other hotels, located at 3737 Quebec St. and 3500 Park Avenue West, according to spokesperson Derek Woodbury. 

“The Department of Housing Stability is proud to play a role in converting these former hotel units into housing options for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” he said in a statement to The Denver Gazette. “This latest investment will help fund the rehabilitation of the building’s units in order to make them suitable for permanent supportive housing.”

Previously, the city helped the Coalition acquire the Clarion Hotel with a $10.4 million investment, Woodbury said. The funding agreement approved Monday does have strings attached in the form of a restrictive covenant.

This is standard procedure for all HOST income-restricted development investments, Woodbury said.

“[The covenant] ensures a guaranteed affordable period,” he said. “At Renewal Village, the affordability period will be at least 60 years.” 

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless shelters appear to have dodged the violence associated with other hotels converted to homeless shelters. 

According to records obtained by The Denver Gazette, another former hotel-turned-shelter — located at 4040 Quebec St. — saw 1,200 calls for service within 1,000 meters and three months. This is the highest among hotel-turned-shelters.