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Businesses and residents react to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's emergency declaration on homelessness

By Anna Alejo

Updated on: July 19, 2023 / 1:36 PM MDT / CBS Colorado

More information revealed on Mayor Mike Johnston declaring state of emergency on homelessness

We talk a lot about Denver's homelessness crisis. Data gives us a better idea of how bad it is.

The number of homeless people is growing 12 times faster than the city's total population. Denver saw homelessness rise 44% in five years.

On his first full day on the job, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston declared a state of emergency to address homelessness, saying "we will set a goal which is the target that we want to get 1,000 people who are currently unhoused access to housing before the end of this calendar year."

Emergency declarations on homelessness have been declared in other cities, including Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. Despite that, Seattle still has one of the highest homeless populations in the country.

Will it work here? The entire metro region has much at stake in this plan's success.

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Johnston wants to put all the city's resources into getting people off the streets and into rental units, hotels or tiny home villages which he hopes to put up on public land around the city.

Downtown Denver Partnership CEO Kourtny Garrett said, "we applaud the administration for coming forward with such bold action."

The Downtown Denver Partnership is devoted to promoting a thriving city center. And it's so invested in addressing homelessness, that last fall it began engaging in case management. So far, that's resulted in 1,500 interactions with the unhoused and referring more than 200 people to services.

"The Partnership has long believed in holistic dedicated individual solutions to the extent that we have hired two homeless outreach case workers within our own team," Garrett added.

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Just outside the business association's headquarters, Bruce Sommerfeld is living under a tree. As we visited, he was doing laundry in a plastic garbage bag.

Sommerfeld has been living on downtown streets for seven years and was not impressed by the new mayor's declaration of a state of emergency: "Personally, I'm not looking for housing, I'm doing outreach. I work for free, I'm a volunteer."

Sommerfeld says the offer of support is nice, however, "I really don't need anything. This is the ultimate freedom."

In Capitol Hill, encampments are now set up right outside the governor's mansion. Neighbors have been face to face with the unhoused for years. Ed Ellis is hopeful but cautious about the plan.

"I hope it works," Ellis said. "I'm a little suspicious. I'm not sure these people exactly want a small home. I think they like freedom."

Homeless encampment across the street from the Governor's Mansion. CBS

The outcome is now up to Johnston, and whether his vision is realized will have big economic implications.

"People are learning how to do business away from downtown and we need to build that backup," realtor Milford Adams said.

Garrett, of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said, "I think that moves like this show that Denver is coming forward with solutions that are in the best interests of our community as a whole."

The mayor wants to have an emergency operations center set up by the end of the week.

Ellis said, "I wish him well. This is going to be a hard problem to solve."

He says people will not only receive housing but services -- mental health, self-sufficiency programs -- whatever's needed to help the unhoused get on their feet.

And that may be the trickiest part to implement.

Anna Alejo

Anna Alejo is CBS News Colorado's Executive Producer of Community Impact. She works with the news team to develop more grassroots relationships across communities and more original content at the neighborhood level, ensuring diverse voices are represented in programming.