DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced major changes to Denver’s homelessness strategy Friday, shifting from moving people into hotel shelters toward a focus on faster placement into permanent housing and support services.
The city will close a hotel shelter near Central Park that it leases and convert a micro-community into workforce housing, marking a shift in strategy from the initial approach that moved more than 7,000 people off the streets since Johnston took office two years ago.
“That strategy was the right one for the right time,” Johnston said. “When your problem is 1,000 tents downtown, you have to have 1,000 units to move people into. Now the challenge is faster case management, people into work faster, people into housing faster.”…