By Bennito Kelty | Westword
The first state-funded homelessness report to look at the crisis across Colorado came out on Monday, April 28, with an estimate that nearly 53,000 people are experiencing homelessness statewide.
The recommended solution sets it apart from another report published just a couple of weeks ago.
“Homelessness ends with a home,” The Colorado State of Homelessness Report 2024 urges in its call to action. “Every part of the homelessness response system — from street outreach to emergency shelter — must stay focused on connecting people to permanent housing as quickly as possible.”
Funded by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the new report suggests that government agencies and nonprofits continue focusing on putting people in housing, such as a temporary shelter or an apartment unit. The report was published by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI), a regional agency that records data on homelessness in Denver and nearby suburbs to share with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and in collaboration with the other three regional homelessness agencies with the same role for other parts of Colorado, including El Paso County and rural and northern Colorado.
The MDHI report’s recommendations contrast with an April 17 report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) titled “No Place to Call Home: The Stark Reality of Homelessness in Colorado,” which also focused on solutions to homelessness. A private research organization based in Greenwood Village, the CSI calls itself non-partisan but has been criticized for pushing a conservative agenda.
While MDHI wants to get homeless residents “permanent housing as quickly as possible,” the CSI suggested “a tiered system of shelter, treatment, and training to build self-sufficiency,” and cautions against providing housing “without preconditions such as sobriety, employment, or mental health treatment.”
The CSI takes issue with what’s known as a housing-first model, which prioritizes putting homeless residents under a roof and keeping them there, and Denver “embodies” that approach, according to the April 17 report. This is because Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s first act in office was to declare homelessness a city emergency in 2023 and begin a race to house 1,000 people in six months by moving them from the street to housing units in micro-communities and former hotels.
Since 2023, the Johnston administration has moved more than 5,000 people into housing, according to the city’s newly updated All In Mile High dashboard. All In Mile High (AIMH) is the name of Johnston’s effort to tackle Denver homelessness.
Although the federally funded Point in Time count found an 11 percent reduction in homelessness in the Denver city limits from 2023 to 2024, the CSI reports that Johnston’s efforts haven’t made a “meaningful” dent.
“It is clear these policies have not meaningfully reduced the overall number of homeless individuals in the cities where they have been implemented,” according to the CSI report. “The federal, state, and local commitment to housing first policies speaks to a deep concern for the welfare and public safety of citizens. However, concern for welfare need not come in a single flavor. An effective mitigation of homelessness should produce self-sufficiency, not solely shelter.”
Instead, the CSI praised the “work-first” approach used in Aurora. Just as Denver “embodies” the housing-first model, the CSI considers Aurora “inspired” by a work-first model, which prioritizes job training and self-sufficiency for homeless residents, according to its April 17 report.
Aurora will use the work-first model to structure operations at the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, a facility located in a former hotel near DIA that will have services for homeless residents when it opens in November. Homeless residents can stay one night at the campus, but they can stay long-term if they work with a case manager to secure a job and, if necessary, get treatment for addiction or mental health issues. In Denver’s shelters, homeless residents can stay at AIMH sites for weeks or months without securing a job.
With Aurora following the CSI and Denver in line with MDHI, the tale of these two cities will test out competing ideas for solving homelessness.