DENVER — Thursday night, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston will host a community town hall to discuss homelessness initiatives happening across the city.
Johnston announced the next phase of his "All In Mile High" initiative will “increase focus on treatment and permanent recovery through securing long-term housing and work for people experiencing homelessness,” a press release said.
Advocates like Cathy Alderman with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said she's encouraged by this focus.
“What's most important is that the mayor is saying that, you know, we're going into this next phase of All in Mile High, which is really focusing on housing solutions, which we are absolutely a proponent of, and have been saying all along, that, you know, we really need to be focused on housing,” Alderman said.
Johnston announced in early September, the Comfort Inn on Quebec Street would shut down in March because the city has been successful in decreasing the number of unhoused individuals.
Denver7 asked Alderman if that would be a solution or a problem.
“We want to move people out of shelter and into housing, that is the long term goal, but that goal is dependent on having housing resources on the other side of that and as a as a city, as a state, we've made some investments in that housing, but not to the degree that we need,” Alderman said.
Alderman wants to hear more about any plans the mayor has for investments to make long term housing options available.
She said that is what is critical for getting people out of shelters.
Right now, she said only one in five people who qualify for housing vouchers, get one.
I'm really concerned about how people are actually going to get into that housing so obviously I have two concerns. It's the stock of available housing for these lower income households, but also how they are going to make the bridge from shelter to long term housing,” Alderman said.
Thursday’s Town Hall will be at the Central Park Recreation Center from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
