On the day federal judges told Denver it must abide by a January ruling about notification of homeless encampment sweeps, the City Council voted Monday to put another $10 million toward motel and hotel rooms for the homeless through at least June.
Denver Chief Housing Officer Britta Fisher publicly acknowledged the need last March, and available rooms trickled in slowly at first. By now, the city has access to more than 800 rooms, spread among six hotels across the city, said Cathy Alderman, vice president of communications and public policy for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.
The council unanimously extended its partnership with the coalition through June 30 for another $10.2 million. This is the second time the council has extended the contract, which overall has cost the city nearly $17 million.
Denver’s homeless population was estimated at 4,171 in 2020, according to an annual survey. But the vast majority of the rooms are for people over 65 or with health conditions that put them at higher risk if they contract COVID-19, according to Angie Nelson, Denver’s acting deputy director for housing stability and homelessness resolution. The rest are for people who exhibit COVID symptoms or are presumed to have the virus.
The rooms give homeless access to steady meals, doctors, behavioral health services and opportunities for more stable housing, Alderman said. More than 100 people have been placed into more permanent housing after their hotel or motel stays.
The total cost for the hotel rooms will exceed $27 million by the end of June. Another extension is possible, but Nelson said her office will request a full reimbursement from the federal government.
Denver is far from the only city in the U.S. to have turned to hotels and motels as a means of keeping a vulnerable population safe. The Pew Research Center reports that Oregon and California have bought some hotels as a means of using the rooms after the pandemic for emergencies and transitional housing.
Denver is not planning to do the same. But when it can scale back on the rooms is largely dependent on case numbers and vaccinations, Nelson said.
The city hasn’t stopped clearing illegal homeless encampments during the pandemic, and on Monday, was denied by judges in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on its emergency request to stop a federal ruling from January. Under that ruling, which was part of a class-action lawsuit seeking to stop the sweeps entirely, city officials must give seven days’ notice before clearing most illegal homeless encampments.
While the judges denied the emergency request, city attorneys still plan to appeal the ruling, city spokesman Mike Strott said.
"hotel" - Google News
March 02, 2021 at 08:42AM
https://ift.tt/3dVT58N
Denver to spend $10 million more on hotel rooms for the homeless during pandemic - The Denver Post
"hotel" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3aTFdGH
https://ift.tt/2xwvOre
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Denver to spend $10 million more on hotel rooms for the homeless during pandemic - The Denver Post"
Post a Comment