Denver’s Johnston plans to close two more encampments; relocate 200 homeless to hotels

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston plans to shut down homeless encampments near 20th and Curtis streets and 48th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard and move more than 200 people living in them off the streets, his administration announced Friday.

Those relocations will happen “in the next couple of weeks,” city spokesman Derek Woodbury said Friday. A specific timeline is being kept under wraps to protect the safety and privacy of people living in the encampments, city officials say.

If those actions — which Johnston and his team call encampment closures — are successful, it would more than double the number of people the administration has gotten off the streets in three prior cleanup efforts. It would also move Johnston significantly closer to the 1,000-person sheltering goal he set on his second day in office and has made the overwhelming focus of his work as mayor thus far.

The online dashboard tracking the progress of Johnston’s House 1,000 homelessness initiative on Friday morning counted 311 people as sheltered or housed through that work. That leaves 30 days to move close to 700 people off the streets, a goal the mayor continues to say is deliverable.

“We are delighted to bring more than 200 Denverites into housing, help close encampments and reactivate public spaces all around the city,” Johnston said in a statement Friday. “Every individual we get into housing is a life changed and every encampment that we close is a neighborhood transformed.”

Media members are being asked to stay away from the encampments so that the city can carry out its relocation and cleanup work “with minimal disruption.” The locations of the converted hotels where people will be moved are also being kept confidential.

The city has already carried out one encampment closure in the area of 20th and Curtis streets. That effort, which concluded on Nov. 1, moved 61 people to shelter and resulted in the area bordered by Broadway, Curtis, 20th and Arapahoe streets being “permanently closed to any camping,” according to an announcement at the time.

In that action, dozens of people camped around the post office at 951 20th St. — on the east side of Curtis Street —  were not moved. Woodbury confirmed that the action announced Friday will focus on the encampment in front of the post office.

Converted hotels have emerged as the primary form of shelter fueling Johnston’s effort. His proposed micro-communities — collections of tiny homes or other temporary shelter units set up on vacant land or surface parking lots — have faced delays and opposition from wary neighbors.

The administration announced on Nov. 24 that a former Embassy Suites hotel at 7525 E. Hampden Ave. was being eyed as a shelter for families, transgender and nonbinary individuals. A lease agreement for that hotel was pulled from a City Council committee agenda next week to give officials more time to finalize details, Woodbury said, but the administration still hopes to bring an agreement before the council before the end of the year.

City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis — whose District 8 in the northeast part of the city is home to three hotel properties that are either already being used as shelters or are being prepared to serve that purpose — has repeatedly raised concerns about her district bearing the brunt of the sheltering effort while people living on the streets there have not been prioritized for shelter spaces. The 48th and Colorado encampment will be the first in her district closed as part of the House 1,000 work.

“While there is no magic wand that can be waved to eliminate homelessness, we know that offering stable housing works more than any other approach,” she said in a statement on Friday.

Johnston’s team is not seeking additional shelter sites in District 8 at this time, officials say.

As the administration gears up for a final push toward the mayor’s 1,000-person goal, the city is seeking volunteers to help prepare shelter sites for new arrivals. The first volunteer opportunity will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the former DoubleTree hotel at 4040 N. Quebec St., officials say. More information is available at denvergov.org/volunteer1000.

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