Denver Homelessness Cabinet Working Behind-the-Scenes on Coordinated Response Efforts

Photo: Ev/Unsplash

By Robert Davis

City of Denver officials have been meeting behind the scenes for months to develop a coordinated response to homelessness, records obtained by the Denver VOICE show. 

Known as the “Homelessness Cabinet,” the group was the brainchild of Britta Fisher, the executive director of the Department of Housing Stability (HOST). She will serve as the cabinet chair and focus on strategy while Evan Dreyer, deputy chief of staff to Mayor Michael Hancock, focuses on operations.

“We have a big team in Denver that is trying to accomplish big things,” Fisher told the VOICE in an interview. “While the Homelessness Council won’t oversee leading other agencies in their efforts to reduce homelessness, we recognize the need to be coordinated and in-sync. All of us serve many of the same people, so we have to remain coordinated.” 

Fisher says her role as chief strategist requires her to “bring colleagues together to find resolution efforts.” This includes engaging with community partners as well as other city agencies. 

Fisher added that the goals of the Cabinet are no different than those outlined in HOST’s Five-Year Strategic Housing Plan. Some of the goals include reducing unsheltered homelessness by 50%, increasing shelter access, and achieving Functional Zero for veteran homelessness by 2026. 

For his part, Dreyer says he is simply “helping [Britta] Fisher create the Homelessness Cabinet” and declined to provide specifics about his role.  

According to meeting minutes obtained by the VOICE, the group meets on the first and third Mondays of each month and operates underneath the Mayor’s Office. The Cabinet also includes the executive directors of every city agency. The group has been meeting since May but has not made the details of their meetings public.

The VOICE asked Fisher if she believes the meetings are subject to Colorado’s Open Meetings Law. Fisher replied “no” because the Cabinet “is utilized for internal coordination around homelessness and is not addressed as part of the municipal code requirements on open meetings.”

It remains unclear exactly what this coordinated effort looks like behind city walls. Records show city agencies have presented their strategic plans to the Cabinet. However, Fisher describes these meetings as “information sharing.”

The VOICE asked whether the chair of the Cabinet has the authority to ask a department to revise their strategic plans if enough homelessness resolution goals are not included. Fisher said the meetings are an opportunity for the departments to “inform one another of their respective strategies for persons experiencing homelessness.”

Internal documents also show that one coordinated strategy the City is using to achieve its homelessness resolution goals is relying more on outreach workers. This includes, but is not limited to, bolstering the Substance Use Navigators program, Urban Park Rangers, the Early Intervention Team, and the Denver Street Outreach Collaborative (DSOC), which is operated by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. 

“Outreach is a very important aspect of our work. We’ve hired several additional folks to help respond to increased homelessness and help make people aware of resources,” Fisher said. 

Since the Cabinet began meeting, Denver City Council has approved a $1.86 million contract increase for DSOC and amended the agreement to include outcomes of households served as a metric for the program’s success.

The body has also approved more funding for outreach programs including a mobile health unit run by Denver Department of Public Health and Environment known as the “Wellness Winnie”. Denver has also approved $10 million in Colorado Multifamily Housing Revenue Notes to build 101 permanent supportive housing units in District 10, and an $11 million contract to rent more than 800 hotel rooms for people experiencing homelessness. 

Meeting minutes show that the Cabinet also discusses evolving ordinance enforcement strategies such as Denver’s Street Enforcement (SET) team. Some discussions include whether to provide these team members with credit cards to make one-time purchases for food and shelter. 

The VOICE reached out to the Department of Safety to confirm these discussions but did not receive a reply by press time. 

The Cabinet is also monitoring the way the public is responding to homelessness. Documents show that the City received more than 8,000 calls regarding homelessness between March and July. Officials remarked that the “tone has really shifted” about the issue, the records show. 

According to the records, one aspect of homelessness that Denver does not want to discuss publicly is its strategy regarding homelessness encampments. When asked why the City doesn’t want to share this information, Fisher replied that coordination between agencies is the primary goal, “not just encampments.”

Members of the City Attorney’s Office (CAO) have also briefed the Cabinet on legal matters regarding homelessness across the country to “frame [the Cabinet’s] thinking, meeting minutes say. One example is the Los Angeles County Court ruling from April that requires the City of Los Angeles to provide housing or shelter to all the people living on “Skid Row” by October 21. The case is currently being litigated. 

The VOICE reached out to the CAO about other cases the office is watching that could impact the work of the Homelessness Cabinet, but the agency declined to comment.