Denver City Council approves nonprofit Urban Alchemy as new manager of one of city’s homeless shelters

The future manager of one of Denver’s homeless shelters will also respond to mental health calls.

The Denver City Council approved two contracts with the nonprofit Urban Alchemy on Monday night. One, after a 9-4 vote, will be for $30 million to run The Aspen shelter in the city’s Central Park neighborhood for three years. The other will be for $3 million to answer 3-1-1 calls.

The Salvation Army will no longer operate the Aspen Shelter (a former Doubletree hotel on Quebec Street) and two others at the end of the year.

The St. Francis Center will take over the Stone Creek shelter and Bayaud Works will run the Tamarac Family Shelter.

Debate among the council and from the public before the vote was heated.

Urban Alchemy is based in San Francisco and runs shelters across the country. It says it has a culture of redemption, transparency and five-star service. In other cities, however, the nonprofit has faced allegations of wage theft, data misrepresentation, lobbying violations and sexual harassment. The Denver mayor’s office says Urban Alchemy has taken responsibility for those past mistakes and is ready to help.

“There (are) challenges at every single one of our locations. This is really hard work. But I have confidence in their ability to deliver a high quality of service to the people at our shelters and the Denver community,” said Cole Chandler, the senior advisor on homelessness in the mayor’s office.

Urban Alchemy sent a statement to CBS Colorado saying: “We look forward to partnering with the City of Denver to change lives and deliver meaningful results for people experiencing homelessness and in crisis. Our motto is: we can show you better than we can tell you, and we know our impact will speak for itself.” 

Urban Alchemy has hired 70 people in Denver so far.

Denver’s Department of Housing Stability says it will investigate any complaints against Urban Alchemy and could recommend contract termination. Members of the department told CBS Colorado they are excited for the partnership.