DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said President Trump’s funding cuts to Colorado is keeping the City of Denver from housing 400 people experiencing homelessness it otherwise could.
That's a quarter of the mayor's goal, so Denver7 sat down with the mayor to get an update on his homelessness initiatives in 2026.
The Denver Housing Authority lost at least 180 housing vouchers in 2025 after federal funds were pulled back.
That comes as several shelters are closing this winter because of Denver’s own cuts to deal with its budget shortfall. The city also cut another 80 vouchers because of its shortfall.
Johnston said the city is currently spending $8 million less on homelessness than it was when he assumed office in 2023, but it is still finding ways to meet its goals.
“We feel pretty good about finding a base, stable level of homelessness funding that is ongoing, and that's really stabilized for us,” Johnston said. “We've dropped homeless spending significantly over the last couple of years. That is working, and now we're really focused on quality, consistency and speed to get more and more folks up and out. A lot of that is really focusing on job training. We'll have a big focus on job training and work placement this year.”
In response to the City of Denver’s COVID-19 homeless response, the Park Avenue Inn shelter opened with the end-goal of putting affordable housing on the property. It has since come to serve dozens as a non-congregate shelter and unofficial transitional housing.
That shelter is set to close this month, but its demolition will make way for affordable housing projects.
Of the 36 residents currently staying at Park Avenue Inn, the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless (CCH) 30 have exit plans to other housing. That includes, referrals to Renewal Village, another property owned by CCH. The single-occupancy studio apartments are in what used to be a hotel near W. 48th Ave. and Bannock Street in Denver.
Mayor Johnston said the plan remains to house all those people so none return to the streets.
“We're in the midst of doing housing placements for those folks,” he said. “I haven't gotten a number update, but our plan is to house all of them, and that's worked in our previous hotel closures. And I would say that was actually more strategically driven than budget driven.”
Denver7 also asked the mayor about the new non-profit, Urban Alchemy, which took over the Quebec shelter after the city chose not to renew its lease with the Salvation Army. The non-profit has faced allegations of data misrepresentation, fraud and overspending in other cities.
So far, Johnston said he’s been happy with its performance.
The $30-million contract with Urban Alchemy was structured in a way that the non-profit only gets paid if it meets certain performance benchmarks.
One of its first moves was to bring formerly homeless folks who have had run-ins with the law to work as outreach specialists.
“Almost every city has contracts with partners like this, but it's moving from the idea that we're just warehousing people to the idea that we're really actively managing them to reach success,” Johnston said. “It's a scary thing to say we're going to take responsibility for the success of someone who might not be ready to work hard to succeed, yet it takes real courage on their part, and they stepped up, which we're really grateful.”
