Denver moves 100 people off the streets into transitional housing
The City of Denver has moved 100 people off the streets and into transitional housing at a hotel on Quebec Street. Thursday's move is all part of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's commitment to get 1,000 people off the streets and into some sort of housing by the end of the year.
The city is promising to provide services to help people moving into the hotel, the former DoubleTree hotel at 4040 Quebec Street, from the encampment at 20th and Curtis and help them find permanent housing.
Denver City Council member Shontel Lewis has also made finding solutions part of her mission. Johnston said Lewis has helped him understand the need to change how homeless encampments are viewed and discussed.
"This is a resolution of an encampment or sometimes we'll call it a closure which is as Councilwoman Lewis so elegantly said before the sweep... it was a move to where? It was a move to nowhere. These are actually closing encampments because you're actually moving folks into housing. So maybe this is the gold standard of what we want to do with all encampments is to resolve them," said Johnston.
Johnston said since he made the declaration about moving people off the streets, about 500 have made the move thanks to the services provided. Johnston intends to spend about $48.6 million on the plan.
RELATED: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston outlines funding for plan to get 1,000 off the streets
Not all communities are so welcoming to transitional housing options. Last month, Johnston announced that the micro-community planned for 5500 East Yale Avenue in the Holly Hills neighborhood will not move forward after major pushback from residents.
Some people living in the Overland neighborhood have also expressed frustration about the micro-community planned for 2301 South Santa Fe Drive, which is moving forward as a "low-barrier" site meaning those who live there won't have a sobriety requirement.
