Mayor Mike Johnston recently claimed that Denver experienced the “largest drop in any city in American history” in homelessness. But some people who work directly with those living on the street disagree.
The annual Point-In-Time Count — a regional headcount of all homeless individuals during one night in January — was released on May 20; it found 519 people living on Denver streets, not in shelters. According to previous PIT counts, that is a 64% reduction in street homelessness from 2023 and the lowest on record since county-specific data became available in 2017. Johnston has also claimed that Denver saw a 12.5% decrease in overall homelessness between 2025 and 2026, the first documented reduction since 2017.
Still, questions remain regarding PIT’s methods, and how Denver could accomplish such a decrease…