2023 Local Elections and Homelessness
Common Sense Institute:
Our latest report, "Homelessness in Denver" summarizes the key issues surrounding homelessness in Denver. Our hope is to continue to spotlight the problem and the immense amount of resources going to try to address the problem. While much of the one-time federal funds will be committed or spent by the time the next Mayor takes office, they ultimately will be responsible for implementing the strategy and bringing greater data and transparency to this topic going forward. The full report as well as the key findings may be found below:
Key Findings:
- Growth of the homeless population is outpacing the growth of the total Denver population.
- Over the last 5 years, Denver’s homeless population has risen by almost 44% - nearly 12 times faster than the city’s total population growth between 2016 and 2021.
- The total population in Denver declined by over 4,000 people in 2021.
- Denver is still on track to spend over $1 billion on homelessness over 3 years.
- CSI estimates that total budgeted homelessness spending in Denver will grow from $393.2 to $545.3 million in 2023 (38.7%) and total $1.45 billion over those three years (2021-2023).
- The estimated 2023 spending per person experiencing homelessness or in permanent supportive housing (according to a range of daily count estimates) in Denver is expected to be between $37,309 and $73,450. In contrast, a typical rent in Denver, according to Zillow’s rent index, is $23,580 per year.