Denver City Council Blocks Proposal to Cut Police Budget for Homeless Services

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette

A push to shift millions of dollars away from the Denver Police Department to pay for homeless families’ shelter failed on Monday night, when councilmembers waded through more than two dozen amendments.

The council voted against a pair of amendments, sponsored independently by Councilmember Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and At-large Councilmember Sarah Parady, both of which proposed a one-time budget reallocation of $9 million from the police department to Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) to pay for the needs of approximately 240 homeless families.

The two amendments would have taken funding from DPD’s recruiting program, as well as from its service and supply budget line.

When asked how HOST might use the additional cash infusion, Executive Director Jamie Rife struggled to find an answer.

“I think it would be hard to tell,” Rife said. “Admittedly, I just got this amendment about an hour and a half ago, so knowing exactly what I would do with this money is a little bit challenging – I think I what I am deeply concerned about is, as much as we want to address family homelessness, and it is an issue, I am concerned about how it affects the part the department from which is being taken.”

Other questions centered on whether HOST could find a location to set up a new family congregate shelter and whether it could rally additional service providers to operate them.

Other councilmembers questioned whether the proposed $9 million budget allocation is sufficient to actually meet the needs of homeless families.

“I’m concerned about the amount,” remarked Councilmember Diana Romero Campbell. “I’m not sure that $9 million is the right amount – maybe it’s $20 million that we need – but I’m not sure that $9 million is going to get us to the goal that we want to achieve.”

Earlier this year, Johnston said general fund allocations for the city’s homelessness initiatives will remain flat, with HOST absorbing $33 million in reductions across multiple funds.

In September, the mayor announced that the city would close the Comfort Inn, one of the city’s larger homeless shelters, and cease funding for the Monroe Village tiny home micro-community, converting it to workforce housing.

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