Denver rolls out a new plan to give thousands of homeless individuals a safe haven

Homelessness is one of the biggest travesties plaguing America in present times. As per the data acquired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, around 582,500 Americans faced homelessness. It is the need of the hour that authorities come together to deal with this issue in hand and give the vulnerable population a safe haven. Denver government has put a plan into motion known as House1000 that will have multiple micro-community sites all over the state to house people in need of shelter, as per KJCT8 News. The regulations in place will give individuals the help they need to take the next step in their lives and move toward home and financial security.

In a recent announcement, Denver's mayor, Mike Johnston revealed his administration's intention to house 1000 people through this plan this year. Currently, they are in the step of moving individuals from encampments to hotels by the hundreds. The sheer number of people moving is so huge that hotels are getting filled up fast. This has forced authorities to look into other sites. Though faced with a roadblock the team is facing it with full determination and drive, especially after seeing the impact of their plan right in front of them.

The plan has given 50 people the chance to ring in New Year with a roof over their heads in a tiny home village at 12033 E. 38th Avenue. Johnston is excited to further push the plan and help more people. “We have two cleanups this weekend and those will be the last of our encampment closures,” Johnston said. “They will go to one of our hotel sites or this new micro-community site.” Micro-community sites are the team's answer to the quickly filling up hotels. The first of them will be opened on Sunday. It will have 50 pallet shelters with the capacity to house 1000 people.  “We will in 2024 get back to work on bringing on more units,” he said.

By 4th December, 611 people had taken shelter in the House1000 unit. Thereafter the administration completed two encampment cleanups, which they believe will push the numbers to about 800 people. They have three other micro-community sites in the pipeline along with many hotels willing to chip in. “We started with 2,000 sites we were looking at when this began,” Johnston shared. “Even though we are at 11 or 15 we were working on the last couple of months we are still sourcing new sites.” They are eyeing January and February as months to open two more micro-community sites to the public. They will be at 1375 N. Elati S. and 2301 S. Santa Fe Dr. The third one is being built right now at 38th Avenue in District 8.

The objective is to house 1000 people in 2024, therefore, the team is busy looking for new sites, all across the city. “We are still working to find sites in every district,” the mayor said. “We think we can get there in some capacity.” Denver has 11 districts, six of which do not have a site. The administration is focussing on those districts so that people from those places can easily reach a shelter in dire times. As far as the rules of the micro-community are concerned nothing has been set in stone. At present individuals are expected to find permanent lodging after 90 days of entering the facility. However, the government is looking to change the limit to six months, observing the circumstances at hand.