Denver Mayor Mike Johnston sets goal of ending veteran homelessness

Denver and federal officials say their data tracking shows that after a recent push to move people indoors, just 52 homeless veterans were still sleeping on city streets as of April.

Mayor Mike Johnston and other leaders said Monday that they hoped to reduce that total to a level they termed as “functional zero” by the end of this year. That is the point for a population group at which all known episodes of homelessness are solved and resources are set up to ensure that future instances are addressed quickly and solved within 30 days, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.

They plan to achieve that by leveraging federal housing vouchers set aside specifically for veterans and by working with local housing and service providers, like the Denver Housing Authority and Volunteers of America.

“That means we will be the largest American city to make sure that no veteran who has served this country sleeps outside on the streets of Denver — and that is something that we are excited about,” Johnston said during a morning news conference outside a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resource center in east Denver.

While Monday’s event was light on specifics, it was clear the city and its partners’ approach would remain focused on a “housing first” model.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development vouchers that will power the effort will be administered through the Denver Housing Authority and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, according to the mayor’s office.

“Denver is unique in that we have all these partners ready, willing and able — and believing in that goal to end unsheltered veteran homelessness,” said Jamie Rife, director of Denver’s Department of Housing Stability.

Rife previously led the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, the federal government-designated organization tasked with coordinating the metrowide homeless response. That organization’s centralized data system is the tool that gives Denver and its partners confidence there are just a few dozen veterans left sleeping on the city’s streets as of this year.

Some veterans were among more than 1,500 people from the larger homeless population moved by city workers into hotel rooms and micro-communities since last fall, as part of the new mayor’s strategy to get people living in encampments temporarily sheltered. The administration is still working out longer-term plans for those people.

There are 230 veterans sleeping in traditional group-sleeping homeless shelters around the city today, Rife said. Another 60 are living in facilities that the city oversees as part of the mayor’s All In Mile High homeless initiative, according to city data.

“Our nation wants to make sure we do the right thing for our veterans,” said Amir Farooqi, the interim director of the VA’s Eastern Colorado Health Care System. “The more we do now literally can be life saving” come winter.

Jeff Olivet, the director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, noted in the city’s release that the federal government had recognized dozens of U.S. communities for hitting the same “functional zero” goal for veterans.

The VA’s website features a list of communities that includes three states — Delaware, Connecticut and Virginia — and cities such as New Orleans and Santa Fe.

But large cities continue to receive federal attention and support.

Houston, often recognized for its track record in reducing street homelessness, earlier this year welcomed a VA resource and referral center dedicated to serving veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The local VA office in that city helped house 996 veterans in 2023, according to the agency.

Criticism about city enforcement

Johnston’s optimistic announcement around veteran homelessness came against a backdrop of continued criticism of the same All In Mile High program that has earned him praise from the Biden administration.

The advocacy group Housekeys Action Network Denver on Monday released an analysis of data the organization requested from the city, covering enforcement of specific laws and ordinances that advocates say are often used to target people who are homeless. Those include enforcement of the city’s urban camping ban, trespassing laws and warrants issued for failure to appear in court after a summons.

Comparing the first three months of 2023 — when Michael Hancock was the city’s mayor — to the first three months of 2024, under Johnston, advocates found that enforcement actions increased 46.5%. Last year, there were 694 enforcement actions over that three-month period, compared to 1,017 this year.