8 OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Breaking Ground MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON’S MICRO- COMMUNITIES START GOING UP IN DENVER AS QUESTIONS STILL LOOM. BY BENNITO L. KELT Y From their windows and balconies, Denver residents can see that the micro-communi- ties Mayor Mike Johnston and the city have planned for his homeless House1000 initia- tive — and debated with residents for months — are no longer just designs and concepts. At least four are currently being built: one in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, at 1375 Elati Street; one in Overland, at 2301 South Santa Fe Drive; one in Baker, at 950 West Alameda Avenue; and one in Central Park, at 12033 East 38th Avenue. The construction is coming ahead of a $6 million contract that was scheduled to go before Denver City Council on September 23 to buy 300 pre-assembled “manufactured sleeping units,” or MSUs, from real estate developer Clayton Properties, an offshoot of Pat Hamill’s Oakwood Homes. The city purchased 200 pallet shelters for $7 million in late August from another company; those will be assembled on site. Cole Chandler, Johnston’s senior advi- sor on homelessness, says that the main difference between MSUs and the pallet shelters is that the MSUs are larger and have more amenities. The capacity of the four sites currently being constructed adds up to nearly 300 units, with 120 going to the site on South Santa Fe and just over fi fty at each of the other three sites. According to the city’s House1000 dashboard, Denver has 300 micro-community units “in procurement” and 200 units “acquired.” The city’s Homelessness Resolution Operation Center, which grew out of the Emergency Operation Center, confi rmed to Westword in a statement that it is “currently moving forward with three of the proposed sites, and we are working to advance other sites as well.” The agency went on to specify that “pre- construction efforts are underway at 2301 S. Santa Fe Dr. and 12033 E. 38th” and the city anticipates “pre-construction to begin soon at 1375 N. Elati St.” The statement does not mention the West Alameda site, but fencing and digging have already started there, according to residents. Michael Cercone, a juggler who performs nearby for passing motorists nearly every day, says that construction on that project began on October 18; he captured a photo of a bulldozer on the site that day and posted it to his Instagram page. As of October 21, the four future micro-com- munities all had fencing up or excavation started. Two of them — the ones on Alameda and 38th — have only a fence separating them from businesses. The other two sites are tucked away in residential areas. Micro-communities are central to Mayor Johnston’s House1000 initiative, as he plans to use them to help shelter the 1,000 homeless indi- viduals he’s looking to put into housing by the start of 2024. His administration appears to now be past the point of no return on these projects, as the city has of- fi cially broken ground. Days before the ground- breakings, Johnston visited the neighborhoods around each of the sites to ease the fears of residents. The com- munity information meet- ings were intended as a last chance for people to air their grievances before the micro-communities became a reality. While no additional community informa- tion meetings have been scheduled by the mayor’s offi ce, according to the HROC, the city expects more to take place in the coming weeks and months. Two of the neighborhoods where con- struction has started saw success in pushing Johnston back on some of his plans. In Overland, residents managed to con- vince the mayor to shrink the size of their in- coming micro-community from 150 units to 120 units. Golden Triangle residents changed his mind about making that neighborhood host two sites. One proposed for 12th and Bannock was ultimately nixed; now only the Elati site will be constructed. Johnston still has a lot on his plate, how- ever, when it comes to the planning of the micro-communities, including deciding who will live in them and who will run each one. While the city already knows it will populate the sites with residents caught in sweeps of homeless encampments — a fact that Chandler confi rmed at two recent community information meetings — it’s still unclear how the city is choosing who will go into House1000 housing and who will go into congregate shelters. “They’re trying to put me in a shelter — a dirty, nasty shelter — with people fi ghting and drug use,” homeless resident Maurice Richardson said during a sweep outside the Governor’s Mansion. “I can’t be up around that stuff with my sickness. They promised to put us all in homes, but I didn’t get one.” Johnston had initially unveiled eleven sites where the city wanted to house home- less residents for his House1000 plan. One of them is the former Best Western Hotel in Central Park. With the Bannock street site abandoned, only nine actual micro- communities remain part of the plan. The city had housed or reunifi ed at least 183 homeless residents as part of John- ston’s initiative as of Friday, October 20, according to the city dashboard. At least 25 residents have been reunifi ed with their families, which counts toward the mayor’s 1,000-person goal. Johnston has said that he’s still working on unveiling plans for additional micro- communities and wants to space them out equitably so that each Denver City Council district hosts at least one. Many residents living next to or near planned sites have scoffed at this idea, noting how no proposals have been unveiled for Districts, 1, 2 and 5 or for wealthy neighborhoods such as Cherry Creek, Country Club, Belcaro, Bonnie Brae, Washington Park or Platt Park. Johnston has already started housing some homeless residents, including people caught in the Governor’s Mansion sweep last month, at the Best Western. On October 18, during a press conference on the steps of City Hall — when he also announced that Denver would become the seventh place to get a federal homelessness liaison through President Joe Biden’s ALL INside program — the mayor introduced an individual named Brandon Hughes, who had been caught up in the Sep- tember 26 cleanup and was blown away by the accommodations being offered by the city. “They call it Best Western, [but] it looks nothing like a motel,” Hughes said. “They’ve got granite countertops, the staff is great, the faculty is just amazing; I’ve already gone through my case management to get recov- ery meetings. We’re already getting housing.” Johnston has said that “move-in” day — when homeless residents will start living in the micro-communities — is slated for December. However, when asked exactly when con- struction will fi nish, the HROC confessed that the city and mayor “don’t have a specifi c timeline” at the moment. “The goal is to have them ready to go before the end of the year,” the offi ce re- sponded, “especially as the colder months approach.” Email the author at [email protected]. NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS Excavation has started on the micro-community at the intersection of Santa Fe and West Alameda. BENNITO L. KELT Y
