Denver’s mayor reduces funding for the homeless

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, has quietly cut funding from a program that allows homeless people a safe space to sleep at night despite awarding the nonprofit organization that runs it more than half a million dollars to expand just six months earlier.

The move marks a 180-degree turn from the efforts of his predecessor, Democratic Mayor Michael Hancock, in 2023 to double the number of safe parking sites in the city from two to four and comes as thousands of people, including undocumented immigrants, are scrambling for places to sleep at night.

Service providers told Axios and local news outlets that hundreds of people have found themselves in dire financial straits. For many, their only possession is their car, which is what they use as a place to sleep at night.

“My heart sank,” Terrell Curtis, executive director of Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, told 9News. “What happens for the folks who park in our safe lots here in Denver when the rest of that fund does run out?”

For the past four years, the nonprofit organization has run lots on private land for people needing a place to stay in their cars. There’s a bathroom, security cameras, and a general sense of safety.

“It’s not legal anywhere in Denver to stay overnight in your vehicle,” Curtis said. “Most of the folks that we see are homeless for the first time. Within the last year, they’ve become homeless.”

Denver has claimed there have been concerns with questionable spending and reporting after funds were allocated to the program, which Curtis acknowledged but said he was working on them with the city’s help.

“As a startup, we were really slow at getting caught up with our billing and reporting requirements to the city,” he said. “But they were aware of that all along. We worked together on what we were doing and how to address that issue. And while we were in the middle of that, they invited us to take another $600,000.”

The original contract, which would have increased the number of overnight parking sites to four from two lots, was given the green light through 2025.

His decision to scale back on the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative has also led to the organization eliminating one part-time position. It also stops the money it gives directly to help people living in their cars, which includes cash for emergency hotel rooms, vehicle registration, and car insurance.

The Denver City Council approved Johnston’s cuts Monday night.

Johnston’s administration, which has been struggling to accommodate and care for more than 41,000 illegal immigrants bused to the state from Texas, has also been hit with a homelessness crisis in the city.

The Washington Examiner saw enforcement officials sweep sprawling homeless encampments, leaving people wandering aimlessly downtown and pushing their belongings in a cart or carrying them in tattered bags.

In all, Johnston is poised to spend about $100 million on homelessness in 2024. In his pitch to voters, Johnston promised to end the crisis in his first four-year term.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

He has also floated plans to get 1,000 homeless people into shelters, which include former hotels and “micro communities” this year.

Johnston was sworn into office on July 17, 2023.