DENVER — A month into his administration, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Wednesday announced his team is requesting proposals from community partners and nonprofit organizations to aid in his plan to house 1,000 people by the end of the year.
Johnston also said he was announcing the formal acquisition of the Stay Inn Hotel in Central Park, a second hotel that would add around 100 units on top of the nearly 200 units that would be available to the unhoused at the Best Western, also in Central Park.
The Mayor said the RFPs would be directed at smaller, community-based nonprofits in the area with the intention of supporting micro-communities that share a similar need for services, such as veterans, women and the transgender community, among others.
“We have them for everything from site operations, to wraparound services to direct provision of services from community based providers,” said Mayor Johnston. “We are also putting out an RFP for those units for the construction of units.”
Johnston said while there is a focus on smaller, local organizations as part of the process, “we also have the opportunity to have some larger scale organizations help.”
The vacant Stay Inn Hotel, located in the 12000 block of E. 38th Ave, was secured earlier this year with $2 million by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette with the intent of converting the units into housing.
The Stay Inn hotel project and funding was first announced by DeGette and former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock in 2021, the Denver Post reported.
“I do want to say about the Stay Inn acquisition – very grateful to Congresswoman DeGette that's been part of a long term partnership with both city and federal partners but leverage some key federal dollars that Congresswoman we get made available for that acquisition.” Johnston said Wednesday.
Late in July, the Denver Housing Authority, which is appointed by the mayor, authorized the purchase of a 194-unit hotel in Central Park intended to be a permanent homeless shelter.
The purchase of the Best Western at 4595 Quebec Street was approved for $26 million funded by an $11 million bond fund and $16 million more from a bridge loan, which opens up short-term financing until permanent funding can be secured.
Forty-percent of the units in the converted hotel would be used for tenants who earn 30% of Denver’s median income, according to a press release.
Denver7 has received follow-up questions from readers about how the converted hotel would work. The hotel would be designed as a “non-congregate shelter” meaning each resident would have an individual or roommate space, instead of a larger community space, according to Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST).
Once the hotel has been used as a homeless shelter, a HOST spokesperson told Denver7 the shelter would later be converted to a “supportive housing” facility for low-income residents providing voluntary healthcare and employment services.
Operating costs for the converted Best Western hotel would run between $3 million and $4 million each year, according to the HOST spokesperson.
The Follow Up
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In terms of the Mayor’s micro-communities approach to solving homelessness, his office hopes expanding RFPs to local nonprofits will eventually help to create specific communities with a focus around shared needs.
“You could have women or trans or non-binary focused communities, you can have one that's focused on veterans. You could have one when they're focused on couples or people with service pets, and you know, each of those Denverites come with different sets of needs and different types of supports and we have nonprofit groups of different kinds of expertise in that kind of support,” said Johnston. “So we think that the units may look different, the providers may look different,”
Johnston said his administration continues to hold nearly daily town hall meetings across the city to answer questions around the impact in neighborhoods and the cost of his plan.
Cole Chandler, Senior Advisor to Mayor Johnston on Homelessness Resolution said the RFP is open to local providers to bid on the operation and support services tied to establishing micro communities.
“The RFP is open for anyone to bid that would include Denver-based organizations as well as organizations that are not currently working in the city and county of Denver or even working in the state of Colorado so it's wide open for anyone to bid on,” said Chandler. “Basically the target that we've put forward is operators that are willing to operate sites that serve 40 to 100 people.”
Chandler said the intent is to create 7 to 10 micro communities with the help of local organizations through the RFP process.
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Mayor Johnston has called homelessness the most significant issue facing Denver, making it his top priority during the campaign. On July 18, just a day into office, Johnston declared a state of emergency over homelessness which intended to open up more financial resources allowing city and county officials as well as residents and businesses the opportunity to apply for state and federal government funds.
"The power of the emergency declaration allows us to move much more quickly and swiftly through what could otherwise be a slower regulatory process," Johnston said at the time.
The city’s emergency operations center was activated and Johnston announced he would appoint a 10-member group to implement his “homelessness resolution plan.”
