Denver Mayor Mike Johnston shares solutions to the city's homeless emergency at Curtis Park neighborhood town hall
Homeless sweeps don't work, housing will. That was the message from Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. He held his first town hall meeting to explain his homelessness State of Emergency to neighbors in the city's Curtis Park Neighborhood.
"The previous strategy around camping bans and enforcement of those I think have not been successful," Johnston told a packed house at The Savoy Denver.
Johnston says he wants to get 1,000 homeless off the streets and into shelters by the end of the year. He says nearly 1,500 people are living on Denver streets any one night.
"The challenge is if you have someone sleeping on the street and you ask them to move, and they have no place else to go for housing they end up just sleeping on the next street, or the next corner or the next park."
The mayor hopes to get the homeless into one of four areas:
- Existing rental units
- Converted hotels
- Safe outdoor spaces and tiny homes
- Unused commercial buildings
The mayor also said "wraparound" services are also needed for job training and addiction treatment. He did not say how he'd pay for those services.
People passionate about the issue of the unhoused and their neighborhood spoke at the meeting. "It's really hard to see that because I love this community," one attendee said.