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Denver councilmembers criticize mayor for not providing financial briefing on homelessness response

By Colorado Politics 06/05/2024 | updated 1 year ago

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Amid a technology outage that forced the Denver City Council to go “old school,” Mayor Mike Johnston came under fire for not briefing councilmembers on the “All in Mile High” homelessness resolution effort.

Specifically, councilmembers Amanda Sawyer and Shontel Lewis on Mondayu called out a trio of contracts supporting on-call contracts with security agencies for Denver’s sheltering sites. There have been deaths and violence at many of the “All in Mile High” sites, as well as increased calls for police service in nearby areas, according to previous coverage by The Denver Gazette.

Sawyer voted to approve the contracts, but added a caveat saying she was extremely unhappy with the lack of a financial briefing for the mayor’s initiative. Additionally, she said the mayor’s office has put councilmembers “in an incredibly awkward situation” by bringing these contracts forward because the councilmembers “don’t know enough about” the financial implications.

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“I am very uncomfortable with the idea of approving these contracts without having seen a budget for All in Denver yet, but that said we can’t have people dying in our shelters,” she said. “We are being asked by the mayor’s office to vote on contracts for something we have not seen the budget for and have not approved and that is not okay. “

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Sawyer said she’d already informed the mayor’s office of her displeasure. Ultimately, Sawyer’s vote for the contracts came because of her recognizing the need to provide safety for Denver residents, including those living in homeless shelters.

The Denver Gazette conducted a lengthy examination of the financial impact of “solving” Denver’s homelessness crisis. In a report, The Denver Gazette identified almost $300 million worth of contracts had been spent on the crisis between 2021 and 2024. Despite that spending, the crisis appears to have only worsened, according to the report. 

Johnston issued a homelessness emergency order when he first took office, which expired in January. In his first six months in office, Johnston’s administration spent $45 million to move 1,000 people to temporary shelters in Denver, according to previous reporting. In the first six months of 2024, the city has moved 1,564 homeless people to temporary housing since Johnston took office, and more than 500 this year, according to the Denver homelessness dashboard.

Johnston’s goal is to shelter 2,000 by year’s end. 

But what happens after those homeless people are in the shelter is a mixed bag. City data shows that of the 1,564 people, 165 are back on the street. A further 10 have died, 28 were arrested and the city does not know the whereabouts of 47. The latest date is from May 20, however, as the city did not update the dashboard as a result of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. 

Lewis was the sole “no” vote on all three of the contracts. Her reasoning was different but included a key difference: she said she doesn’t believe “this is the way that we go about ensuring that there is safety.”

“I think a way that we push back against the mayor when we aren’t happy about the things he is proposing is that we vote no,” she said.

Ultimately, the councilmembers present approved the $24 million in contracts for security services 10-1. Two of the three will specifically focus on All in Mile High homeless and immigrant shelters, while the other will address security services citywide.

After the 3:30 p.m. Monday legislative session ended, the council heard public comment. With city technology systems down, nobody could participate via Zoom — but nobody had signed up to speak virtually that evening, according to city staff.

The Denver City Council meeting was not streamed online because of a citywide technology outage that was fixed Tuesday afternoon. The video of the council meeting, normally available online the day after, was not fully published until just after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

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