Denver Mayor Mike Johnston speaks 1-on-1 about migrant response, housing and public safety
Fresh off the heels of a trip to the White House to meet with members of President Joe Biden's administration, Mayor Mike Johnston spoke with CBS News Colorado one-on-one about the ongoing migrant crisis and other key issues facing the Denver metro area.
"I've been working for the last couple of weeks on pulling together six mayors from around the country who all have cities that are majorly impacted by the migrant arrivals," said Johnston. "We went together with a delegation of mayors to talk to the white house and to the Senate leadership about this issue and to lay out a couple of clear needs that we think we have to be able to take this on."
Some of Johnston's and other mayor's needs were outlined in a letter penned to the Biden administration this week. While he didn't meet directly with the president during his trip, Johnston feels assured Biden's Chief of Staff and other leaders listened to these requests and are ready to collaborate on solutions.
"We do know we need more federal dollars to be able to help provide the services to support people. We also want to see them increase access to work authorization," said Johnston. "When I talk to migrants when they arrive in Denver, the first thing they ask me is just where can I get a job. I don't need any charity; I just want to work. And I have employers who call me every day and say, 'can I please hire those people? We have open jobs.' And so, we view it as a place where we have folks who want to work and employers who want to hire them and a federal government who is standing in the way, preventing them."
The Biden administration is already asking Congress for $1.4 billion in federal aid for the ongoing migrant crisis, but Johnston and other leaders want that support to be closer to $5 billion.
The Coalition of Mayors is also calling on the government to support a quicker pathway to asylum status and a more coordinated process for migrants entering the U.S.
"We know it's hard to get big things done in D.C. I will say we're grateful that the president has come out already with a proposal on a supplemental funding bill that would include dollars for additional support for the cities. That's a great start," said Johnston. "I think they are aligned on the things they know we want to get done. I think they have shared values around wanting it to be both a welcoming country and a country where you get to work and support yourself. Both of those are true."
Ultimately, though, Johnston says the key to supporting more migrants is granting them the ability to work legally sooner.
"If we have folks that can start working the day they arrive in Denver, we don't need to provide 37 days of shelter for them, they can jump into their own unit," said Johnston. "The more difficult it is for folks to access work, the more we want to make sure to provide services so that they're not unhoused in the streets in the cold. So, we're trying to find that balance."
Supporting migrants in Denver
Right now, supporting incoming migrants in the Denver metro is costing the city about $2 million a week.
"If we stay at that, that's about $100 million over 2024. For comparison, that would be half of the entire budget for the city and county of Denver for affordable housing and homelessness combined," said Johnston. "We want to make sure that we're not putting anyone in harm's way. We also have to be mindful of all the rest of the city services."
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Next week, the city is set to temporarily stop using one of the city-commissioned hotels to house migrants, located on East 58th Avenue off Interstate 25. While the number of migrants in the region is still very high, a spokesperson for the city's human services department says they can accommodate incoming migrants with the four remaining hotels right now. When the demand goes up, they will bring that hotel back online.
CBS News Colorado has spoken with migrants who have sought temporary shelter through the city's resources; however, more and more are struggling to find somewhere to go after those services end. When the hotels are not just kept online or stays are extended for those experiencing homelessness if there is availability at shelters, Johnston says, it boils down to spending.
"The length of stay for us right now is not driven by availability of our shelter system or hotels. We're often using hotels or churches. It's just about the cost the city can carry," said Johnston.
Mayor on House1000
One of Johnston's proudest accomplishments in his first 100 days in office is the rollout of his plan to house 1,000 people experiencing homelessness by the end of the year.
"We still think we have a really good path to get to that 1,000 because we knew it would take a while to site, permit [and] prepare these locations," said Johnston. "Some people say, 'oh well you're only at 200, doesn't that mean you're not going to make it?'"
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Johnston says his administration knows most of these units, whether it be micro-communities or hotel rooms, would not come online until November and December, which, he says, still puts the city on track to achieve this goal.
"They all take the same amount of time to acquire them, develop leases, get permits, do construction, site electricity, build tiny homes or acquire hotel rooms," he said. "So, many other times this would take much longer to do it. The city workers have done an incredible job to make this happen on a faster timeline, but we think it is absolutely the moment for urgency and no day should be wasted."
However, some advocates for those experiencing homelessness and council leaders have expressed concerns about how quickly the process is moving to create these communities.
"I don't think there is ever a version where we're moving too fast. If you think we're moving too fast, simply walk through the streets of Denver and see folks that are unhoused and living in unsafe situations in the freezing cold as winter comes," said Johnston. "There's no such thing as moving too fast on this humanitarian crisis."
This week, some residents living in the neighborhood adjacent to 5500 E. Yale Ave. celebrated Johnston's decision to remove that location from the shortlist of proposed micro-community sites. Johnston says part of the reason the location was nixed was community concern, but it was also about timing.
"[It] would've required demolition of a building that's on the site, and while that was a possibility, it was not going to be done quickly," he said. "And it's for a very relatively small number of units that would fit on that site, so it's a lot of construction costs for a smaller amount of outcome."
He did credit neighbors for stepping up to provide other options, in which District 4 could still have its own micro-community site.
"They did say, 'we know this is a crisis, we want to help solve it and we believe every neighborhood should be a part of it,'" said Johnston. "So we're very optimistic we'll have a site in that council district and I think the neighbors will be supportive of it."
For those who have expressed concerns that House1000 is just a band-aid to a much larger issue Denver is facing with access to affordable housing, Johnston says the solution is a step-by-step process.
"You're trying to climb the ladder of housing. Right now, we have more than 1,500 people who aren't on any rung of the ladder. They are literally sleeping on the floor of the city, or on the ground in cold weather where they are at risk of being taken advantage of," said Johnston. "The first step is to move those folks out of unsheltered homelessness and into transitional housing. That is hotel rooms. Those are micro-communities. Those are leased units.
Johnston says long term, the city plans to create 3,000 units of affordable housing each year, for the unhoused as well as other low-income residents.
"That's for teachers and nurses and servers and retail workers and social workers all across the city who can't afford to live in this city right now," said Johnston. "So that's a part of our much bigger focus on affordable units. We know there is a shortage on those units for everyone."
However, he also says it is crucial to have micro-communities and hotels established as a first step in getting the most vulnerable off the streets.
"All these sites have workforce training, mental health support, addiction support -- all on site," said Johnston. "Once we get them those supportive services, then the plan is to move them up to the next rung on the ladder, which is to get them to their own permanent housing where they have their own lease that they pay for."
Crime and public safety
Beyond supporting the city's most vulnerable populations, Johnston also addressed questions about his plans to ensure public safety remains a priority.
"On public safety, we've also made historic commitments," said Johnston. "This budget has an expansion of 167 new officers to put on the streets, so we can actually have faster responses to 911 [and] people can make sure cases that they have are investigated and closed."
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Johnston says helping those who are unhoused into transitional housing and funding more mental health positions and other alternative responses will make a difference in improving public safety.
"Right now, so much of our officers' time is spent responding to encampments where they can't be at their highest and best use," he said. "We'll get more officers on the street, and we'll reduce the amount of time those officers have to spend on encampments and be more responsive to the rest of the city's needs."