DENVER — The Salvation Army will end its operations at three hotel shelters when its contracts with the City and County of Denver expire in December 2025.
Those three shelters are The Aspen, Stone Creek, and Tamarac shelters, the organization announced on Thursday. The Aspen and Stone Creek is for single adults and the Tamarac is geared toward families with minor children. All three are part of the Denver mayor’s All In Mile High Communities, an initiative that aims to end street homelessness in Denver.
In a press release, the Salvation Army Intermountain Division said it joined the City of Denver in its efforts to reduce homelessness in 2023 by operating the hotel buildings as shelters, but in 2024, the organization faced more than $5.2 million in shelter operating costs. This outpaced the funding that was available.
“This is a decision we’ve made as an organization to ensure our financial sustainability,” said Major Nesan Kistan, intermountain divisional commander for The Salvation Army. “… Continuing to absorb these costs would jeopardize the quality and integrity of all our programs. “Instead of spreading our resources too thin and risking the standard of care we’ve upheld for more than 160 years, we’ve made the necessary decision to step back in some areas to strengthen and sustain our impact where it’s needed most.”…