Although fewer people are sleeping on the streets in Denver, the total number of homeless individuals in the city grew, a new report showed. 

This year, a total of 7,327 people were counted as homeless — a number that grew by 788 over 2024, according to the newest annual point-in-time (PIT) Count released by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative on Monday. 

The count is a nationwide, yearly, unduplicated count of the homeless population conducted on a single night in January.

The mayor focused on the reduction in “unsheltered” homelessness, as he sought to tout the numbers as “the best in the country among cities with published reports.” 

“Denver is proving that homelessness is solvable so long as we are willing to put in the work to solve it,” Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “In less than two years, we have gone from a city that swept people from block to block to one that treats people with dignity and delivers real results. This policy is not only morally just but effective.”

The data showed a significant reduction in “unsheltered” individuals, which city housing officials touted as the “largest multi-year reduction in unsheltered housing in American history.”

“This year, we can definitely say that we have fewer people sleeping on our streets than we have at any time since before the pandemic,” Denver Senior Advisor for Homelessness Resolution Cole Chandler told reporters at an embargoed media roundtable on Friday.

The data showed that the city’s homeless numbers went up in almost every category except two — the “newly” homeless and the “unsheltered” homeless.

It indicated a slight increase in family homelessness in 2025 compared to the year before. The numbers of chronically homeless spiked. So did homeless veterans and young people.

A Flourish chart

“Unsheltered” homeless refers to people who live and sleep in public spaces, such as parks, cars, or under bridges.

Since 2023, unsheltered homelessness in Denver has dropped by 45%, from 1,423 to 785, which city officials attributed to efforts made by Johnston to move more individuals off the streets and into shelters.

“Throughout Metro Denver, we are seeing more people end unsheltered homelessness by coming indoors to access critically important, life-saving shelter and housing resources,” said MDHI Executive Director Jason Johnson. “Denver is a prime example that if you invest in appropriate levels and types of shelter and housing, people will use them to leave behind a life on the streets.”

Other major U.S. cities such as Atlanta, San Diego and Phoenix each saw 2025 unsheltered homeless numbers increase by 44%, 11% and 13%, respectively. 

As part of Johnston’s plan to reduce homelessness, the city added 1,000 beds across multiple shelter sites throughout the city, officials said. 

With those additional beds, officials said they expected the number of sheltered homeless to increase.

“So, we’ve seen another rise in overall homelessness, but there are two really strong indicators that suggest it (homelessness) could be plateauing, and we could start to see a decrease in future years,” said Jason Johnson, noting the decline in the number of newly homeless individuals.

Chandler added that the city is “not planning” to add additional beds in 2025 but instead will focus resources on “throughput,” and exiting those in shelters toward more permanent housing. 

“Now we’re at the point in our strategy where we’re really focused on how do we get those folks that we brought indoors into shelter, out of shelter, into permanent housing,” Chandler said. 

But “federal headwinds” present challenges, Chandler said.

“The president’s bill basically says permanent supportive housing would no longer be a policy, and that could take away, you know, a lot of housing vouchers that we’re using across the city,” Chandler said. “Through the state’s budget shortfall, we’ve lost about 70 housing vouchers already this year, and so there’s some headwinds, but we’re really focused on, how do we help people exit homelessness from our shelters at this point.” 

Chandler is likely referring to what many anticipated is a shift in the federal government’s focus away from “housing first,” the approach that is popular among advocacy groups. The idea behind “housing first” is to respond to an individual’s most acute need first, which is housing, and then offer other services later.

Some reported that Trump’s proposal to abolish two programs that provide long-term housing financing and increase dollars for the Emergency Solutions Grant Program would open the door to a more “treatment first” approach. 

Supporters of “housing first,” including advocacy groups in Denver, insist that it has a tried and tested method to help homeless people. Critics said it has failed to tackle the root causes of homelessness, which they maintained are addiction and mental health issues. Denver has fully embraced the “housing first” approach, while Colorado Springs and Aurora have adopted a “treatment first” or “work first” model.   

Johnston has allocated approximately $57.5 million for the homelessness initiative.

“That ($57.5 million) is intended to serve 2,000 people a year, which comes out to about $27,000 to $28,000 — something in that range per person served,” Chandler said. “Over time, we’ll keep refining that budget, but our operating costs are targeting $57.5 million and under $30,000 per person served. “

That figure marks a decrease from $85 million, Johnston noted in a Sept. 12, 2024 letter to the City Council, emphasizing the city’s use of one-time federal ARPA funding to develop the infrastructure to address homelessness.

The mayor’s campaign to move 2,000 homeless people off of the city’s streets between his inauguration last year and the end of 2024 has been expensive.

Johnston has insisted that his office has utilized taxpayer money “responsibly.”

His efforts have cost a lot more than anticipated.

A briefing from the city’s Department of Housing Stability last June revealed the city was on track to spend $155 million between July 2023 and December 2024 — $65 million more than Johnston previously said it would cost.