With Current Homeless Plan Ending, Denver Wants Public's Input

DENVER (CBS4) -The city of Denver is asking for help in the fight to end homelessness by offering a series of community meetings to focus on a new plan.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was on hand to kick off the plan at a meeting held on Saturday morning.

"We are not the kind of city that closes the door on people," a speaker told the crowd at the event said.

After 10 years, Denver's current plan to end homelessness is coming to an end.

"On a per capita basis homelessness is a downward trend in this city," Bennie Milliner with Denver's Road Home said.

Milliner says the program has been a success. It has helped mentor more than 1,200 families out of homelessness, generated nearly 8,000 jobs and saved more than 6,000 families through eviction prevention.

The city now wants input on a new plan.

"I know all of you are here because we know we still have a lot more work to do," Hancock told the audience.

Hancock says it's an issue that the city needs to get a better handle on.

"It's one of the areas that we feel we need to do a better job of getting at," he said.

Saturday's meeting was the first of at least six meetings to create a new plan to help reduce the homeless population.

New problems include the growing youth homeless population in Denver, and the city's current shelters, which are nearly full on a regular basis.

That's what we are trying to get here today -- community input," Milliner said.

To learn more about Denver's Road Home or the next community meeting, visit denversroadhome.org.