Denver City Council approves $89 million deal for former Post building

Denver City Council approves  million deal for former Post building

Denver city government took a big step Tuesday toward turning the former downtown headquarters of The Denver Post into a courthouse when the City Council approved an $88.5 million purchase agreement for the building at 101 W. Colfax Ave. A city master plan projects it will need an additional 280,000 square feet of space for … Read more

Denver rent assistance program gears up for big year as evictions surge

Denver rent assistance program gears up for big year as evictions surge

On a December morning, dozens of people cycled through the benches outside Room 163 of the Denver City and County Building. A few cradled children, and some looked at the floor. Deja Balles held a document from her landlord. It demanded just shy of $2,700 in back rent for October, November and December. Like the … Read more

Denver City Council poised to limit homeless camp sweeps in freezing weather

Denver City Council poised to limit homeless camp sweeps in freezing weather

The Denver City Council is poised to put much stricter limits on when city agencies can clear homeless encampments during the cold weather months. A bill that would prohibit the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment and other city agencies from removing shelter from public places when the outside temperature is forecast to be … Read more

Denver Homeless Persons’ Memorial marks record number of deaths

Denver Homeless Persons’ Memorial marks record number of deaths

Elisabeth Francis keeps a small glass bottle on her desk. Inside is a printout of the heartbeat of a man that she knew for more than 10 years after meeting him in the early days of her career as a homeless outreach worker in Denver. John Hull died in July in a hospital. “I was … Read more

Mayor Johnston’s House 1,000 goal in sight with one micro-community

Mayor Johnston’s House 1,000 goal in sight with one micro-community

The push by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to move 1,000 homeless people off the streets by year’s end gained new urgency Tuesday as city officials detailed a schedule of coming encampment closures. And they confirmed that it will be converted hotels — not the micro-community sites in neighborhoods that have attracted the heaviest pushback — … Read more

Denver City Council changes rules to future construction on East Colfax Avenue

Denver City Council changes rules to future construction on East Colfax Avenue

Hundreds of properties along a 5-mile stretch of East Colfax Avenue will have to include active, ground-floor commercial space in any redevelopment plans after the Denver City Council on Monday approved new design guidelines for buildings clumped along the city’s most famous street. The council unanimously supported applying the pack of new rules, collectively known … Read more

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston renominates fire chief, sheriff to jobs

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston renominates fire chief, sheriff to jobs

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced Friday that the city’s current sheriff and fire chief will continue in those positions, finalizing his intention to retain all of his predecessor’s public safety leaders. Denver Fire Chief Desmond Fulton (Provided by Denver Fire Department) Nearly five months after being sworn into office, he renominated Sheriff Elias Diggins and … Read more

Denver clears homeless camp near downtown post office as part of Johnston initiative

Denver clears homeless camp near downtown post office as part of Johnston initiative

City crews moved more than 100 people out of a homeless encampment near the post office at 20th and Curtis streets downtown Thursday and into an east Denver hotel that has been converted into a shelter, officials confirmed. It was the fourth and, so far, the largest action at an encampment yet as part of … Read more