DENVER — Six months after Urban Alchemy took over operations at Denver's Aspen Shelter, the national nonprofit is reporting it outperformed on every metric in its contract with the city — but questions remain about whether residents are leaving the shelter housed.
The Aspen Shelter on Quebec Street is one of seven shelters operating under a pilot performance-based contract with the City of Denver. Urban Alchemy, a national nonprofit, took over the shelter at the start of the year following a lengthy debate by Denver City Council, which approved the contract on a 9 to 4 vote.
On Tuesday, the Community Planning and Housing Committee held a meeting where Urban Alchemy shared its performance data for the first time.
"These are real-life people that are behind these numbers, and it's showing that we are truly making a difference," Urban Alchemy Director of Operations Tyler Thompson said.
But overall numbers shared by the city's department of housing stability — known as HOST — raised concerns. Of all the shelters under the performance plan, Aspen recorded the highest number of 911 calls at 84.
Thompson noted the shelter also serves the most guests, at 347, according to HOST.
When asked about data showing more people leaving Aspen Shelter without housing over the last year, Thompson pushed back on the framing.
"Our goal is not housing. I want to make sure that's clear. Our goal is long-term stability," Thompson said.
That is one of the city's goals, though. Members of HOST said Tuesday they want to work on reducing the amount of time people are staying in these shelters.
Bennecia Hatcher and Lucas Dunn had been without a home for nearly five years when the city connected them with the Aspen Shelter.
► Watch Allie Jennerjahn's report in the video below:
"Denver host found us at one of the local parks and offered us the opportunity to come here," Dunn said.
They shared they had reservations when Urban Alchemy took over.
"I was a little bit nervous about what that would bring, but truth is, I feel like it's a good base plan," Dunn said.
But when it comes to moving on from the shelter, they said the timeline has to be their own.
"We had to relearn some things. If we left here tomorrow, I don't know that I would feel like we'd be 100% successful," Dunn said. "I feel like we'll reach higher levels of success if we just kind of work the program."
HOST also announced Tuesday that it will likely add a fifth metric for shelters operating under performance-based contracting. The department is also pushing to add five more shelters to the program next year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.