By Bennito L. Kelty | Westword
Since Mayor Mike Johnston took office in July 2023, his administration has spent millions using hotels to address homelessness and an influx of migrants.
The city bought hotels and warehouses for housing the homeless before Johnston took office, but his administration opened the coffers even more, relying largely on leftover federal COVID relief dollars. These multimillion-dollar leases and purchases include two hotels bought this year worth a combined $64 million. The hotels were used mostly for Johnston’s effort to house 1,000 people before the end of 2023, and are now used to house people in his next phase of combating homelessness, known as All In Mile High.