DENVER - The path that brings people to the Monroe Tiny Home Village looks different for everyone.
"I became homeless two years ago. I lost my house that I live in for nine years," said Kenneth Foskett, "I lived in my storage [unit]," said Anna Brown, who explained the challenges of not having a place to call her own.
"When I left the overnight shelter, I had to take everything with me. So if I had to go to work, I had to take my suitcases, my walker," she said, "I was turned down jobs being that I had so much stuff."
For the more than 130 people who have been served there since it opened in 2022, it quickly becomes a home until they get back on their feet.
"I moved out yesterday. To Lakewood and got a one bedroom apartment," said Foskett.
Brown is a resident and making progress.
"I can go to a job and have it not be "You can't work with a walker, you have too much stuff, you can't bring this in," she says.
The residents here were stunned to hear the city funding that keeps the village open is on the chopping block.
"One of our micro communities, our tiny home villages, we will close that operation and will instead put permanent workforce housing on that site," said Mayor Johnston when announcing his proposed budget last week.
According to the proposed 2026 Denver Budget, the move is listed as a series of "strategic restructurings to reduce duplicate services"
Closing non-congregate sites, including the Comfort Inn and Monroe micro-community, as we shift All in Mile High to focus intensively on housing, connecting individuals to work, and street engagement for high acuity populations.
"It was very very disheartening," said Cuica Montoya, the Senior Director of Homelessness Programs at Colorado Village Collaborative.
The non-profit runs the tiny village and the services it offers that's all currently operating on city owned property.
As the budget stands right now, she said they are only approved for funding through July of next year.
"Then what? What will we do? We go back on the streets," worried Brown.
CVC acknowledges the city has some tough decisions ahead, they said they wish they had more time.
"Would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to pivot. Our fundraising plans to pivot, you know, other other parts of the metro area, exploring what that looks like," said Montoya.
She noted another helpful tool for them to bounce back and find a new place would be if City Council removed red-tape around building these types of communities. In the meantime, they are hoping to serve as many people as they can before time runs out.
"Why don't you let us stay here until you do the development and give us more time to plan so that we can move and find somewhere else to go?" she wondered.
To support Colorado Village Collaborative, click here.
Later Thursday evening, Mayor Johnston held a town hall where he spoke to the community and heard from residents about the change to his homelessness response.
