Data presented in the Point in Time count of people experiencing homelessness in Denver for 2024 did not include unhoused migrants, a representative of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative told a City Council committee Wednesday.
According to a presentation by Kyla Moe, the count tallied 9,977 people experiencing homelessness in the metro Denver region. A total of 2,919 of them were living outdoors or in other areas not meant for human habitation. But these numbers do not include migrants who were staying at shelters specifically stood up for them, she said.
Reports of migrants staying in homeless encampments and traditional shelters have been widespread this year. MDHI counted migrants for the January event, Moe said, at the shelters that were stood up specifically for them. The totals from the migrant shelters only were provided to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They were not included in the public report.
“We are required to report them to HUD so if you go to the HUD website you will see the numbers don’t match the local report,” Moe said. “We have chosen as a continuum to exclude them from our local reporting to kind of look more apples to apples with what we’ve been experiencing over the years. It’s kind of hard to trend data.”