Denver City Council approves $4.5M contract for Salvation Army's Crossroads shelter after months-long delay

DENVER — After delays and concerns over allegations of shelter mismanagement, the Denver City Council on Monday approved a $4,550,000 contract extension for The Salvation Army to continue funding the Crossroads men’s homeless shelter in the city’s Five Points neighborhood through the end of 2025.

The 9-4 vote, delayed multiple times by the council, came nearly halfway through 2025.

• Watch our previous reporting below

So far this year, The Salvation Army has been working without pay. Jamie Rife, executive director of Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST), apologized for introducing the contract late during Monday’s meeting.

“Our goal this year is to make sure that we have executed contracts before the services start, so we don't find ourselves in this position again,” she said.

Rife said rejecting the contract extension would force the city to find a “contingency plan” that would likely result in Crossroads closing, putting its nearly 300 guests on the street. She explained that city staff would be too short-handed to run the shelter, and that calling in emergency personnel would cost “three to four” times as much as the current contract.

“We are in the middle of furloughs, a hiring freeze,” she said. “We do have a significant percent of vacancy at HOST. So, for us to run it would be of concern.”

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Council members voiced their concerns with The Salvation Army, asking representatives at Monday’s meeting about employee misconduct allegations at Crossroads, as well as their management at other Denver shelters.

Earlier this year, a staff member at the organization’s DoubleTree hotel-turned-shelter on Quebec Street was arrested and accused of sexually assaulting a woman staying there. Last March, the shelter was the scene of a double homicide.

“We must take these allegations really serious and be transparent to everybody,” City Council President Amanda Sandoval said. “These are tax dollars.”

Council Member Shontel Lewis would rather see funding for community-based groups to run the shelters.

“It’s not working, and we know it's not working, but we're going to keep doing it even though we know it's not working,” she said, frustrated.

But council members decided that approving the contract and keeping the shelter running would be less disruptive.

“Until we have another safe and stable alternative place, closing this facility would create more harm than good,” Sandoval added.

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Some council members criticized the process for forcing a vote that included payment for the work already completed this year by the Salvation Army and extending the contract, saying it didn’t allow them to take a critical look at the renewal without major disruption.

“This is a bit of a hostage situation,” said Council Member Chris Hinds. “As in, we're having to decide, do we support the 300 individuals that are being serviced by Crossroads right now?”

HOST said it’s planning on more regular communication with The Salvation Army, and council members are calling on the organization to do more to address community concerns before contracts for its other shelters expire. There is an upcoming Request for Proposal period that could attract other service providers to apply to take over control in 2026.

“The competition and proving of who can and should be at Crossroads and other locations is going to happen in the next several months,” said Council Member Jamie Torres.

Rife did defend Crossroads as a site when compared to other shelters.

“Crossroads is one of the sites where there's a community there, and people really like being there together, and this is the site at which I've received the least number of complaints,” she said.

The Salvation Army sent Denver7 a statement after the vote:

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