DENVER — Sunday marks two years since former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock declared a state of emergency because of a record number of immigrant arrivals from Central and South America.
Since then, the city's dashboardshows nearly 43,000 people have come to the Mile High City.
"You think back to where we were a year ago. We were at ten shelters, and nearly 5,000 people were in shelter," said Jon Ewing, spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnston's office.
Since then, there's been a dramatic decline in arrivals.
"The emergency phase of seeing hundreds of people arriving on buses every day from Central and South America, not knowing what they were going to do next, confused, just trying to figure something out for themselves and for their families—that is over," said Ewing.
And this week, the city's final shelter, The Mullen Home, closed its doors.
"This quiet to me means people are moving forward," said Yoli Casas, walking through the empty halls of the Mullen Home.
The Mullen Home stayed open slightly longer than other shelters to help pregnant women, children and families.
Casas, the executive director of ViVe Wellness, took Denver7 on a tour of the empty shelter where beds are stacked, waiting to be picked up by city staff.
"It's a place where we were making things happen," she said.
All 60 families who once lived here are now living in permanent housing.
The city estimates that $79 million has been spent on the crisis over the past two years, though around $30 million has been reimbursed via federal funding.
While needs always change, the city acknowledges we've entered a new era.
"We'll have new challenges, and we'll meet them. But the emergency we saw these last couple of years, that's behind us," said Ewing.
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.