DENVER — For months now, Denver’s told migrants arriving in Colorado they’d get 14 days in a shelter and then be pushed out to the streets. That policy led to massive homeless encampments filled with migrants throughout the city. On Wednesday, Denver tried something new, moving more than 300 of them back into shelters.
Mayor Mike Johnston said all migrants living in the camp would be given shelter after the camp was closed. Some were taken to two congregate shelters around the city. Others were taken to a hotel that would house families, and others were given apartments if they applied with landlords.
The City of Denver also offered bus tickets to people who wanted to go to a different city.
On Wednesday morning, the fences that lined the neighborhood off Speer Boulevard and Zuni Street formed a divide. What was left inside those makeshift walls would soon be thrown away.
"We’re scared, because we don’t know where they’re going to take us," Henry Alvares said as he took belongings out of his tent.
The stroller came out first. Then the diapers and the heater, which only works sometimes. Finally, it’s time to take 19-month-old Nicholas out of the tent where the family has been living for two months and prepare him for the next move.
"Now they say they’re going to take us to a shelter, but they aren’t telling us where," Alvares said. "They say there’s one for singles and one for families, but in reality, they don’t tell us where they are going to take us."
Street corners had become home for a small part of a months-long journey for these migrants. When the fences went up, they knew it was time to leave the neighborhood that had helped survive.
"People come here and they help us," Alvares said. "They give us food and diapers for the baby. There are a lot of good people here helping us."
As trash bags full of belongings filled the buses, volunteers did their best to translate instructions using their phones to families left puzzled about what comes next.
The cost of moving all these people into housing is not cheap. The mayor told city council yesterday it could cost $180 million this year if migrant arrivals continue at this pace. For context, that’s 10% of the entire general fund budget and more than three times the money the city spent on homelessness last year. Johnston has said that’s unsustainable.
Denver is offering to pay the first month’s rent for migrants who are working, and three months’ rent for migrants who are still trying to find work. There’s concern that all the services the city is offering to try and help migrants will make Denver a more appealing place for future waves of migrants to come to. The city says it can’t sustain more people coming here.
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