The Denver City Council approved Monday a $6 million contract with a homeless services agency to administer the Denver Asylum Seekers Program, or DASP.
Haven of Hope will maintain a waiting list for the asylum seekers program, which currently serves 865, about half of which are children, according to city staff. More than 42,000 migrants have passed through or relocated to Denver since December 2022, according to city officials.
Haven of Hope also will provide food and hygiene products to those in the program. Separate contracts with Vive Wellness and Papagallo will be awarded to find and pay for apartments for them, too.
Haven of Hope formerly was known as “Father Woody’s.” In January 2021, the Colorado Attorney General announced that Father Charles Woodrich, for which Haven of Hope was named, was a suspected predator and allegedly abused a boy in his home, according to the Denver Gazette. After that, Father Woody’s name no longer preceded Haven of Hope.