A $30 million contract with the San Francisco-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy to take over a major Denver homeless shelter looked like it was sailing through City Council for weeks without a concern — despite the nonprofit’s history of lawsuits, data misreporting and strife with other cities.
Denverite reported on the group’s short and troubled history two months ago, just after the Department of Housing Stability announced the group had been picked to run the shelter in a former DoubleTree Hotel and days before the council began to review the contract.
Among the troubles Denverite identified:
- Accusations of lobbying rule violations that were later thrown out
- Data misreporting (identified by Urban Alchemy itself)
- A sexual harassment lawsuit
- A worker who hosed down a sidewalk, nearly drenching an unhoused person
- More than 20 court cases since 2020
Jeff Kositsky — the former chief growth officer of Urban Alchemy who now works as a deputy director of shelter and stability in the city’s housing department — showed up a few days later in October and announced the pick to the council’s Community Planning and Housing Committee in a presentation about a new contracting system…