Denver City Council approves Safe Outdoor Spaces expansion, name change

The Denver City Council has approved a new zoning ordinance that expands the Safe Outdoor Spaces program in the city. The council members also approved a name change. 

The spaces will be called a Temporary Managed Community. The outdoor spaces were first approved during the pandemic. The city funds and maintains the spaces, which provide heated tents, bathrooms, food donations, stamps and other services.

Now, those spaces will be managed and permitted by the city. The communities have been moved under the same zoning code that governs temporary tiny home villages. 

"Housing is the foundation from which everything else becomes possible. And if we want to solve the biggest issues facing our community we must solve housing," said Heather Lafferty, Exec. Director, CEO Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver.

The goal of the program is to provide temporary housing until those people can move into permanent housing as a result of the program.