Housing First - End Homelessness in Denver

The Problem

Denver has approximately 7,500 people experiencing homelessness on any given night (MDHI Point-in-Time Count, 2024; Denver HOST estimates). The city’s approach has been the traditional American model: shelters as triage, conditional housing (you must be sober, employed, or “housing ready” to qualify), and criminalization of sleeping outdoors.

This model has consistently produced worse outcomes and higher costs than Housing First approaches in every rigorous comparison. It costs more than housing people, produces worse outcomes, and treats a housing problem as a character flaw.

What Denver Currently Does

Denver’s approach to homelessness centers on the Department of Housing Stability (HOST), which coordinates shelter, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing (PSH). Denver had approximately 1,300 PSH units as of 2024, far below the need. The city has spent heavily on emergency shelter, including converting hotels during the pandemic, and on encampment management (sweeps), which the ACLU of Colorado has repeatedly challenged.

Mayor Johnston’s “All In Mile High” initiative pledged to house 1,000 people and move them from encampments. While some have been housed, the approach relies heavily on temporary shelter placements rather than permanent housing, and encampment sweeps continue to displace people without resolving their homelessness. The 2024 Metro Denver Point-in-Time Count identified approximately 9,065 people experiencing homelessness in the metro area (MDHI, 2024).

The math is damning: Denver spends an estimated $40,000-60,000 per person per year managing homelessness through emergency services. Permanent supportive housing costs $15,000-25,000 per person per year. The savings calculation in our proposal should be understood as applying primarily to the chronically homeless population (approximately 2,000-3,000 individuals), not the full 9,000+ count, but the cost savings for that population alone exceed $50-100M/year.

• Emergency shelter bed: ~$30,000-50,000/year per person
• Chronic homelessness (emergency room visits, jail, police contact): $40,000-80,000/year per person
• Supportive housing apartment: $15,000-25,000/year per person

We are already paying to NOT house people. We’re just paying more for worse outcomes.

Our Solution

Denver Housing First Initiative

Adapted from Finland’s Y-Foundation model (the only country in Europe where homelessness is declining) and Houston’s successful Housing First implementation.

Core principle: Give people homes first. No preconditions. No sobriety requirement. No employment requirement. No proving you “deserve it.” A home, then support services. Because you can’t address addiction, mental health, or employment instability while sleeping in a tent.

1. Convert Shelters to Permanent Housing Finland’s breakthrough was converting emergency shelters into permanent apartments. We follow the same model:

• Convert Denver’s largest shelters into permanent supportive housing
• Each resident gets their own apartment (not a bed in a room with 100 others)
• On-site support: case managers, mental health professionals, addiction counselors, employment assistance
• No sobriety requirement. No curfew. It’s their home.

2. Rapid Rehousing Pipeline

• Every person who enters Denver’s homelessness system is assessed within 48 hours
• Target: housing placement within 30 days of initial contact (not months or years)
• Housing navigators assigned immediately to connect people with available units
• Landlord incentive fund: security deposits and damage guarantees to incentivize landlords to accept Housing First placements

3. Permanent Supportive Housing (for highest-need individuals)

• 2,000 units of permanent supportive housing with 24/7 on-site support
• For chronically homeless individuals with severe mental illness, substance use disorders, or chronic health conditions
• Integrated with Denver Social Housing Authority (see: Social Housing Act)
• Wrap-around services: healthcare, mental health, addiction treatment, job training, life skills

4. Coordinated Entry - No Wrong Door

• Single point of entry for all homelessness services
• Anyone - police, hospitals, schools, faith organizations - can connect someone to the system
• Real-time database of available units, services, and capacity
• No one gets turned away. No one “falls through the cracks.”

5. Prevention

• Emergency rental assistance to prevent eviction (see: Tenant Bill of Rights)
• Utility assistance fund
• Legal defense for eviction proceedings (see: Universal Right to Counsel)
• Domestic violence housing fund
• Youth-specific services for homeless youth and aging-out foster youth

The Evidence: This Works

Finland’s Y-Foundation Model

Finland adopted Housing First as national policy in 2008. Results:

• Homelessness decreased by 35% (the only EU country where it’s going down)
• Long-term homelessness decreased by over 50%
• Shelters converted to apartments - Helsinki closed its last large shelter
• Cost savings: €15,000/year in reduced emergency, police, and healthcare costs per person housed
• 80% of Housing First residents maintain their housing after 1 year
• Finland is on track to eliminate homelessness entirely

Houston, Texas

Houston has housed 25,000+ people since 2012 using Housing First:

• Homelessness reduced by 63%
• Veteran homelessness reduced by 64%
• Key: unified coordinated entry system, strong landlord partnerships, data-driven approach
• If Houston, Texas can do this, Denver can.

Medicine Hat, Canada

Medicine Hat became the first city in North America to effectively end chronic homelessness:

• Every person experiencing homelessness is housed within 10 days
• Support services prevent returns to homelessness
• 90%+ of placed individuals maintain housing

The Data on Preconditions

The traditional “treatment first” approach requires people to be sober, medicated, and “housing ready” before receiving housing. The evidence is clear: this approach fails.

• Housing First retention rates: 80-90%
• Treatment First retention rates: 30-50%
• Housing First participants show GREATER improvements in substance use and mental health than Treatment First participants - because stability is a prerequisite for recovery, not the other way around.

Sam Tsemberis at Pathways to Housing (New York) pioneered Housing First in the US and demonstrated conclusively: housing is healthcare.

How We Pay For It

Net cost: Negative. Housing First is cheaper than the current system.

Cost Category	Current Model (per person/year)	Housing First (per person/year)
Emergency shelter	$30,000-50,000	$0
ER visits	$15,000-25,000	$3,000-5,000
Jail/police	$10,000-20,000	$1,000-3,000
Supportive housing	$0	$15,000-25,000
TOTAL	$55,000-95,000	$19,000-33,000

Savings per person housed: $36,000-62,000/year.

For the approximately 2,000-3,000 chronically homeless individuals who incur the highest emergency costs, that represents $72M-186M/year in savings - money currently being spent on emergency responses to homelessness instead of ending it (Culhane, Metraux & Hadley, 2002).

Startup investment: $200-300M for unit acquisition and conversion (funded through Social Housing Authority bonds + federal HUD matching).

Frequently Asked Questions

“Don’t people need to be ready for housing?” No. The evidence definitively shows they don’t. Housing First works BETTER than treatment-first approaches, with higher retention rates and better health outcomes. Stability creates the conditions for recovery - not the other way around.

“This is just giving people free homes.” It’s giving people homes and support services. Most Housing First residents eventually contribute to their own housing costs. And the alternative - paying $80K/year per person for emergency services - is a far more expensive form of “free.” We’re already paying. We’re just paying for failure.

“What about the homeless people who don’t want housing?” This is largely a myth. Research by Tsemberis and Pathways to Housing consistently finds that 95%+ of people experiencing homelessness want housing (Tsemberis, 2004). When offered a permanent, unconditional home (not a shelter cot with a curfew and sobriety rules), acceptance rates are extremely high.

“Doesn’t this attract homeless people from other cities?” Data from cities that implemented Housing First (Houston, Finland, Medicine Hat) does not show significant “magnet effects.” People experiencing homelessness typically became homeless in the place where they live - they’re our neighbors, not outsiders.

“What about encampment sweeps? Don’t we need to clear encampments?” Sweeps without housing placements do not reduce homelessness; they relocate it. The ACLU of Colorado has documented the destruction of personal belongings, medications, and identification documents during Denver sweeps. Each sweep costs the city $30,000-50,000 in police, sanitation, and social services time (Denver HOST data). Housing First eliminates the need for sweeps by eliminating the encampments through permanent placements.

References

• Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI). (2024). Metro Denver Point-in-Time Count. (9,065 people experiencing homelessness.)
• Denver Department of Housing Stability (HOST). Budget and program data.
• Y-Foundation (Finland). Annual reports. (35% reduction in homelessness; shelter-to-apartment conversion model.)
• Coalition for the Homeless, Houston/Harris County. Housing First outcomes data. (25,000+ housed since 2012.)
• Tsemberis, S. (2004). “Housing First, Consumer Choice, and Harm Reduction for Homeless Individuals With a Dual Diagnosis.” American Journal of Public Health. (Pathways to Housing foundational evidence.)
• Culhane, D., Metraux, S., & Hadley, T. (2002). “Public Service Reductions Associated with Placement of Homeless Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Supportive Housing.” Housing Policy Debate. (Cost savings evidence.)
• ARA (Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland). National homelessness statistics.
• Medicine Hat Community Housing Society. Functional zero homelessness data.