Denver unveils $250M plan to tackle rising homelessness

Denver has unveiled a $250 million plan to re-house hundreds of people and create more affordable homes as part of a 2023 action plan to combat homelessness.

The city’s Department of Housing Stability detailed its latest five-year strategy to end the housing crisis. It includes creating 1,700 affordable homes, expanding pathways to homeownership, implementing encampment decommissioning strategies, investing in hotel options, serving more than 8,000 households with housing stability programs and serving more than 2,500 households experiencing homelessness in rehousing and supportive housing programs.

To finance the project, the agency will rely on funding from several sources, including Denver’s General Fund, the Affordable Housing Fund, the Homelessness Resolution Fund, federal grants, and time-limited COVID-19 response and recovery funds.

This plan will be Denver’s seventh homelessness plan in 17 years. The city has seen its homeless population increase by 12.8% since 2020, according to Metro Denver Homeless Initiative’s initial annual point-in-time count data.

The state of Colorado as a whole has also seen a spike in homelessness. The state’s chronically sheltered homeless population grew by 266% between 2007 and 2021, more than any other state, a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows.

Official state data attributes the issue to a lack of affordable housing, stating that housing costs are higher than income. About 76% of the state’s housing was affordable to households making their county’s median income. By 2020, only 51% of homes were affordable for middle earners, based on an affordability report from the Colorado Futures Center.

This latest multi-million dollar plan is intended to go into effect next year. Benjamin Dunning, an organizer for Denver Homeless Out Loud told local news outlet KUSA-TV that he is skeptical that the city’s latest strategy will solve the housing crisis. Dunning stated, “If they meet their current goals, homelessness and the cost of housing is going to continue to increase – and the situation is going to get worse because the need is so great.”

According to KUSA, Denver’s chief housing officer acknowledged it is not enough “until everyone is housed” and said the city won’t rest until that happens.