Build it and they will come.
That’s what Peak Politics predicted when Denver Mayor Johnston pledged to spend a now estimated $155 million to establish a homelessness infrastructure of social workers and free temporary housing with benefits.
Meanwhile, none of those perks came with the insistence for those with addiction and mental issues to get help and eventually find jobs and their own housing.
So, now comes the latest federal survey count that reveals — garbage can drumroll please — homelessness has increased across Colorado by nearly one third.
And despite hundreds of billions spent by the Biden/Harris administration to reduce homelessness nationwide, the 2024 count saw an 18% increase across the country to 770,000.
For those wondering, the final tally of the point in time count conducted at the end of every January was released well after the elections and during the Christmas holiday on Dec. 27.
The current count shows the increase of homelessness from January 2023 to January 2024 and came just after Johnston’s rush to gobble up hotel rooms and build micro communities of tiny homes to get 2,000 off the street before the count.
The total count of homeless folks in the Denver metro area was 14,281, a 39% increase over the previous year. Of those, 9,900 were counted as “sheltered.”
Fox 31 reports homeless advocates believe the increase might be due to the rise in migration, what with Biden’s open border polices and all.
But the federal count does not ask if homeless folks are migrants and whether they are in the U.S. legally.
From the Fox 31 report:
The Department of Housing and Urban Development said migration significantly affected the nationwide family homelessness count, which rose 39% in 2024. The 13 communities affected by migration, including Denver, saw family homelessness more than double, while the rest of the country saw increases of less than 8%.
Meanwhile, Johnston released his report card on his own successes for 2024 this week and declared that 2,233 homeless people were brought inside since he took office in mid 2023.
PeakNation™ will recall Johnston’s goal was to get 2,000 indoors within the first six months of office by Jan. 1, 2024. That means only an additional 233 were moved off the streets throughout 2024.
That leaves 1,831 of those still homeless but living in city shelters, and we don’t have a clue how many ever made it into permanent housing.
We give Johnston a C for effort and an F for helping to grow instead of reducing the homelessness culture taking root in this state.