By By Bennito L. Kelty | Westword
The migrant crisis in Denver is Mayor Mike Johnston’s biggest challenge so far in 2024.
Since December 2022, more than 39,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have shown up in Denver. To the tune of $58 million — all funded by local taxes — the City of Denver has either put them in hotels converted to shelters or bused them to other locations.
For Denver to keep housing, transporting and feeding migrants through 2024, Johnston had predicted the city would need $180 million. To slash $60 million off that figure, he announced today, February 28, that the city will close four of its ten migrant shelters during the next month, at a rate of one per week.
The mayor clarified that “no one is being displaced from these shelters, no one’s length-of-stay policy will be changed,” which means that families with children can still stay for 42 days in a shelter, and families or individuals without children can stay for fourteen days.