Denver’s Department of Housing Stability Seeks Solutions for Every Denver Family In Need

Photo: Sigrid/Unsplash

by Nahila Bonfiglio

It can be challenging to measure success in reducing homelessness, but in a presentation to Denver’s Community Planning and Housing Committee, the city’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) attempted to do just that. According to Jeff Kositsky, the department's deputy director of housing opportunity, its efforts are driven by an underlying question: “How can we get you back to a safe place?”

Data from 2025 and 2026 details efforts to reduce stays and improve shelter experiences for those experiencing homelessness across Denver. The information shared largely detailed how data can be used in future years to further improve the shelter experience and to reduce the number of homeless and unhoused people across the city. The data is still new and covers less than a full year, but the limited information it provides shows improvement across the board.

The Data indicates that HOST is well on its way to proving the program’s efficacy, based on trackable improvements from 2025 to 2026. Shelters across the city reported overall increases in occupancy, rising from 84% in the second quarter of 2025 to 93% in the second quarter of 2026. Housing-focused case management grew more consistent year over year, and nearly twice as many households were served in 2026. Numbers are expected to improve as we shift into quarters three and four of 2026, according to Kositsky.

Fewer housing options lengthened stays across Denver shelters, highlighting the continued challenges posed by external factors. For families in particular, HOST seeks to provide “consistency in a very turbulent time.” Council President Diana Romero Campbell emphasized the need for this, particularly as school-aged children spend some or all of an academic year in a shelter.

The data is promising, and Kositsky emphasized that “every shelter improved significantly between 2025 and 2026.” That’s a trend HOST aims to maintain in 2027, when several new programs are set to be initiated. Goals include adding new shelters across the city, enhancing the current model by continuing to collaborate with providers, strengthening provider training, improving HOST’s performance monitoring, continuing to improve data quality, adjusting metrics to drive housing outcomes, expanding rapid-resolution efforts, and focusing more on long-term shelter stayers.

Improvement is key to HOST’s future. The program is gathering as much data as it can to ensure that every shelter-seeker in Denver receives the best possible accommodations.

 As Kositsky noted, “for HOST, good enough is never good enough.”