DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced possible locations to help create 1,000 additional units of housing during an update Thursday morning on the city's response to homelessness.
Johnston said the sites are at a variety of locations, including land owned by the city, Colorado Department of Transportation, Denver Housing Authority, Denver Health and private landowners. They include two former hotels, a site that's connected to the Corky Gonzales Library and primarily vacant plots of land.
"These are sites we think are ready to go, and now we'll start going through all the things like permitting, if there are zoning changes required, neighborhood conversations," Johnston said.
The map below breaks down Denver into 11 districts:
Some of the locations in the city's wealthiest neighborhoods are still a secret.
Johnston said the list is not finalized, and the city is in negotiations with some private landowners about the details of the arrangements before more sites are announced.
"Some of the sites that we are working with private landowners on they were not ready to go public on but we do have sites in all 11 districts," said Johnston. "We want to make sure we can decentralize some of those services and some of that support. That is why you will see us moving more South and more East."
He also said the city is in the process of obtaining pallet or tiny homes that can be placed in the sites that are on open space.
"[The sites] represent geographic diversity, they represent socioeconomic diversity in where they're located," Johnston said. "We also have sites in all 11 city council districts, which was important for us and the council. Some of those just are still in negotiation. So we were intentional about making sure we did have an equitable map of where these sites would go."
It was a goal to place sites farther out from Districts 9 and 10, which Johnston said are the most overburdened.
The city is hoping to start moving people off the streets and into micro-communities at the end of the year. Although this is a preliminary list of sites, the mayor said he is confident these identified sites are ready to go. The mayor's team will now begin the process for permitting and zoning changes.
> Video below: Johnston's full news conference:
The following sites were announced Thursday:
- District 3
- 1498 N. Irving St. - micro-community
- 1498 N. Irving St. - micro-community
- District 4
- 5500 E. Yale Ave. - micro-community
- 5500 E. Yale Ave. - micro-community
- District 6
- 1380 S. Birch St. - micro-community
- 1380 S. Birch St. - micro-community
- District 7
- 2301 S. Sante Fe Drive - micro-community
- 950 W. Alameda Ave. - micro-community
- District 8
- 12033 E. 38th Ave. - hotel/micro-community
- 4595 N. Quebec St. - hotel
- District 9
- 3700 Galapago St. - micro-community
- 3700 Galapago St. - micro-community
- District 10
- 1375 N. Elati St. - micro-community
- 1199 N. Bannock St. - micro-community
- District 11
- 5000 Tower Road - micro-community
The latest update comes after the administration enforced the camping ban for a second time Thursday morning following a double shooting Monday near an encampment in the area of 17th Avenue and Logan Street.
Two people who were residents of the camp were injured in the shooting. The victims did not appear to be involved in the disturbance, and their injuries were not life-threatening, Denver Police said.
Police said Wednesday that they identified the suspect in the shooting as Eugeneo Hinojosa, 55. Hinojosa is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.
According to Housekeys Action Network Denver, Johnston violated his own seven-day notice policy when he authorized the sweep, giving less than 24 hours of notice. The sweep was initially scheduled for Wednesday and was delayed until Thursday morning.
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