Mayor Mike Johnston holds a press conference about budget cuts and a new program for asylum seekers arriving to Denver. April 10, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office has distributed a guide to other cities dubbed the Newcomers Playbook — an instruction manual for welcoming and aiding new immigrants.
Johnston’s office described his city as “the national leader on this topic,” in a statement.
“Over the last year and a half, despite the federal government failing to support our cities, Denver has led by building sustainable systems that help newcomers get back on their feet and turning a crisis into opportunity,” he said.
The city spent tens of millions sheltering families in hotels, before kicking them out. Earlier this year, agencies faced the possibility of 10% to 15% budget cuts, and city workers panicked that they would lose their jobs or be furloughed. Happily, that did not occur.
Instead, most city departments have seen roughly 2% cuts in frozen positions, office supplies, subscriptions and other items, as the city has cut back its general operation to fund its new immigrant programming.
The Newcomers Playbook describes the city’s emergency response and attempt at a more sustainable program.
The city has funded onward travel to other cities, temporary shelter, help finding permanent housing, medical and mental health support, legal aid, school enrollment and work authorization.
Earlier this month, the city launched new Denver Asylum Seekers Program that launched this month that will help 1,000 people — a fortieth of the total Denver has supported since December 2022.
That program will include housing assistance for up to six months from the date a person applies for asylum, a pre-work authorization readiness program, and workforce and language training.
“We’re proud this playbook will help newcomers resettle in cities with more opportunities, help cities across the country successfully welcome newcomers and reinvigorate workforces,” Johnston said.
One of the recommendations in the playbook: “Offer onward transportation to another destination.”
Johnston’s administration has been encouraging migrants to leave Denver and telling them the city has run out of resources. They would be better off going to New York or Chicago, cities that have also complained of being overtaxed and that have taken in many more new immigrants than Denver.
The playbook also advises cities to meet with city, state, and community partners, document policies and procedures, create an intake center, build a bilingual Spanish-speaking staff, create a budget, and monitor how funding is spent.
Each family and individual should have a case manager, rapid housing assistance should be granted and workforce services should be used.
The how-to guide is also a work in progress.
“As Denver continues to learn and evolve with its newcomer response efforts, this playbook will be updated with new strategies,” the guide states. “In its current form, it serves as a framework for supporting new arrivals in your city.”
A new nonstop Turkish Airlines flight from Denver International Airport will carry travelers 6,152 miles between Denver and Istanbul — the longest flight from DIA.
The recruitment of Turkish Airlines brings the number of airlines at DIA to 26. Flight searches on Google on Thursday morning showed round-trip flights available starting June 11 for around $1,329 roundtrip.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and DIA chief executive Phil Washington planned to announce the flight Thursday morning. The new service is expected to bring a $54 million annual economic impact in Colorado and support the creation of about 350 new jobs around the state. The flight will take about 13 hours, longer than the 12-hour direct flight between Denver and Tokyo.
DIA officials in recent years have prioritized “expanding our global connections” as part of their strategic plan for serving 100 million passengers a year by 2027 and more than 120 million by 2045, the airport’s 50th anniversary. A primary goal is to “expand the air networks to the continent of Africa and other disconnected destinations.”
A 21-person delegation of airport, city government, and business officials from Denver visited Ethiopia in February 2023 on a trade mission to build relationships. They offered economic incentives as part of their efforts to persuade Ethiopian Airlines and, eventually, Egypt Air to commit to starting service to Denver with several flights a week. Another delegation visited Turkey in October 2022 to explore possibilities for starting a Turkish Airlines flight between Denver and Istanbul.
The new flight announced Thursday “does not diminish in any way our desire” to line up a flight to other cities, said Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce president J.J. Ament, who joined both delegations.
“A flight to Istanbul opens up India, and it also opens up Africa for us,” Ament said.
“The imperative is that we continue to increase Denver’s global reach and the reach of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West with DIA as the gateway airport,” he said. “Being able to reach new parts of the world, growing parts of the world, is what is going to keep Colorado globally relevant.”
DIA is the largest airport in the United States by size, covering 53 square miles of land. It also ranks among the busiest airports in the world. A record 77 million passengers went through DIA in 2023, up from 69 million in 2019.
The airport offers flights to 217 destinations, predominantly domestic. But international air travel, including air cargo operations, has grown steadily and in 2023 brought more than 4 million travelers, up 21% since 2022.
Earlier this year, airport officials announced new nonstop flights from DIA on Aer Lingus to Dublin, Ireland, starting on May 17. Other cities that DIA travelers can reach nonstop include London, Paris, Zurich, Reykjavik, Iceland, Munich, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and a dozen cities in Mexico and Central America.
This week, Mayor Mike Johnston’s second-to-launch micro community, dubbed La Paz, will open in the Overland neighborhood as a long-term shelter for people currently sleeping at an encampment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood at Colfax Avenue and Umatilla Street.
The 60 tiny homes manufactured by Oakwood Homes will welcome in 47 people from an encampment on Tuesday.
The project will be run by Colorado Village Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that has used tiny homes as one solution to bring people indoors from unsheltered homelessness in recent years.
Many on the staff, hired before the project’s launch was delayed over neighborhood concerns, are well trained, eager to open and looking forward to helping people move tomorrow.
“They’ve been out at the encampment meeting with folks,” said Senior Director of Homelessness Programs Cuica Montoya, with the Colorado Village Collaborative. “We really value those connections, so that people know that we’re just human beings. We’re here to help support you along your way.”
The Salvation Army will provide residents three meals a day, while the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless will bring in a mobile clinic each week to offer wraparound services.
There will also be services from on-site staff 24/7.
“They get daily peer counseling and case management,” said Colorado Village Collaborative’s Chief Executive Officer Dede de Percin. “That’s full-time.”
Wooden fencing encircles the tiny home village, situated between a quiet, residential part of the Overland neighborhood and rumbling cars driving by on Santa Fe Drive.
The tiny homes are truly tiny, with a narrow pallet bed, a desk and a window. Restrooms, showers, a kitchen and laundry are available in an adjacent community room.
The rooms are meant to be temporary housing with the goal being to eventually move people into permanent homes.
But how? That’s the question on the mind of District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez.
“One of my biggest concerns is how are we going to get people that come live in the microcommunity or that live in the hotels out of them and into housing, so that that space frees up for new people,” Alvidrez told Denverite.
Some neighbors in Alvidrez’s district are uncertain about having 60 tiny homes in their community.
Randy Cain, who lives near La Paz, stood outside the gates of the tiny home village, sipping coffee and watching the hoopla.
“I’ve never felt this disrespected in all my life,” he said.
He said he’s not had good relationships with people experiencing homelessness. He’s concerned about drug use and public urination, and he’s collecting evidence and plans to sue the city over the project.
“It’s horrifying,” he said. “I bought my house 16 years ago. And this got thrown upon me. I’m not happy about it. I’ve never had good interactions with the homeless. I know that there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Douglas Danger, who’s lived in the area for more than 35 years, went inside the gates to hear what the mayor had to say and offer his criticisms.
“I think they kind of pushed their way in here knowing that they wouldn’t get a big fight like they do over in the other bigger neighborhoods,” Danger told Denverite.
Danger visited the encampment and Colfax and Umatilla, where people will move in from.
“I’m not afraid of much,” he said. “I’ll stick my hand in a bucket of spiders. Not a problem. But I had to get out of there because I was afraid. I saw three guys, three people openly shooting up. I mean, where I could tell that’s exactly what they were doing. I saw a guy defecate, literally poop just right out in the open, no concern for anything. Another guy was playing on the train tracks.”
To prepare for what he believes will be a spike in crime in the neighborhood, he has purchased security cameras for his property.
“It’s making me afraid,” he said. “And it really makes me scared that they steamrolled this over us and didn’t listen to a single thing.”
Part of what feels unfair to Danger is the homelessness solution isn’t being shared across the city council districts, including in District 5, where he says “the rich people live.”
“I think it’s really unfair how the mayor promised all districts would get one, but it just seems to be this is the one they’re concentrating on — and in district eight — and nobody else is sharing the burden as promised,” he said.
It’s been a criticism waged by City Councilmember Stacie Gilmore, who has said she fears Johnston is consolidating poverty in neighborhoods with fewer resources.
District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis, whose community has the majority of shelter beds created under Johnston, has said she’s proud of the work and hopes it encourages other communities to get involved.
But Danger acknowledges that even if every district had a microcommunity, he’d still think the Overland site was a bad pick.
Johnston, who has held dozens of community meetings over the creation of new shelters at which he’s faced intense public criticism, views the city’s process in the Overland neighborhood as exemplary.
“We think this is a great example of the way a process like this should work,” Johnston said. “You know, we were looking for sites all over the city. We know when we announced sites that communities were going to have feedback and questions. They brought us those questions. They brought those concerns. Councilman Alvidrez brought those questions and concerns. And we learned we got better we adjusted the design.”
For example, the city beefed up promised security patrols in the neighborhood and installed multiple cameras at the site, monitored from an office in the community house.
Mayor Mike Johnston, joined by Father Joseph Dang and District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez , speaks to press about the opening of the La Paz microcommunity in Overland, March 11, 2024. Credit: Hart Van Denburg / Colorado Public Radio
The city also slashed the number of residents La Paz could accommodate in half, from 120 to 60 — at least, for now.
“So this entire block, all down to Wesley, is set up for approximately 120 units,” the mayor’s spokesperson Jose Salas said. “But in collaboration and talks with Councilwoman Alvidrez and the community, we have an agreement to start with 60 units. In a few months, six months or so, we’ll have those conversations again with the community and the councilwoman to see the success of the community and then the potential expansion to add more units.”
When Johnston came into office, he promised communities like La Paz would be a cheaper, easier solution to homelessness, but he’s largely focused on creating shelter at city-purchased motels and hotels.
During the 2023 mayoral race, he put microcommunities with tiny homes at the center of his homelessness strategy. He even hired Cole Chandler, the former head of Colorado Village Collaborative who was instrumental in bringing tiny homes to Denver as a homelessness solution, as his senior advisor on homelessness.
But during the mayor’s first six months, he’ s largely focused on hotels and motels the city has purchased that are faster to bring online and have the benefit of providing greater density for a longer term.
Tiny home projects can only be zoned as such for four-year stints. While they cost between $25,000 and $30,000 per unit, the buildout of the overall community can jack those prices up dramatically. Hotels and motels cost roughly $100,000 per unit to bring online, but they provide a more permanent investment.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s Senior Advisor on Homelessness Cole Chandler speaks to press at the opening of the La Paz microcommunity in Overland, March 11, 2024. Credit: Hart Van Denburg / Colorado Public Radio
While the city has created more long-term shelter in hotels and motels and appears to have slowed down its acquisition of tiny home lots, there’s still a lot Johnston likes about them.
“The benefit of these sites is the communities are a little bit smaller,” he said. “If you’ve been living outdoors or unsheltered, it’s nice to be in a community where you know everybody, familiar faces, you have your own independent unit. And so it provides a little different sort of privacy.”
As of Monday, since Johnston took office, the city has sheltered 1,293 people, with 369 of them securing permanent housing, according to the city’s dashboard.
Johnston said he hopes to raise that number to 2,000 by the end of the year. During the last six months of 2023, he dubbed the effort House1000. He’s changed the name for 2024 to All in Denver.
“We call it All In, because the goal is quite literally to get all of our Denver residents inside,” Johnston said. “And that means people that are sleeping, unsheltered on the streets, we want all folks indoors.”
Mayors Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Mike Johnston of Denver, who have pushed the Biden administration for more help in dealing with the influx of migrants, join “Face the Nation” to discuss how immigration is affecting their communities. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is “determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos” with migrant transport to their cities.
