DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced a major change in the city’s response to the migrant crisis on Wednesday, extending support to six months but with only about 1,000 spots. The mayor’s pivot follows failed efforts to get federal aid and deep cuts to the city’s budget, as Denver served a total of nearly 41,000 immigrants as of the end of 2022.
It’s a sharp departure from Chicago, New York City and Denver’s strategy of weeks- to months-long shelter-in-place stays over the past year. Instead, Denver’s new program will place asylum seekers in apartments for up to six months, provide job and skills training, opportunities to gain certifications and unpaid work experience, food assistance and assistance with asylum claims.
The goal is to act as a buffer and provide intensive preparation while new arrivals wait six months for a work permit after applying for asylum, according to federal law.
“In Denver, we believe the way to solve these problems is not to turn our backs on our American values, but to turn to our American values,” Johnston said, waxing poetic about immigration to America over the centuries .
New York City guarantees most adult migrants only 30 days in the city’s shelter system, which is a patchwork of facilities including converted hotels and enormous tent dormitories. Some younger adults and families with children get 60 days. But they – unlike single adults – can also receive a new placement once their 60 days are up. This allows them to remain in the system for as long as necessary.
Chicago began enforcing a 60-day limit on shelter-in-place stays in mid-March. But many exemptions, including for families with school-age children, have meant that few people are actually evicted from their homes. The city has only reported 101 people leaving shelters because of the caps so far.
On Wednesday, the city said more than 15,000 people have found alternative housing since officials started keeping records in 2022. Many have sought rent assistance from the state. Chicago reports that more than 38,000 migrants have come to the city since 2022.
Denver and other Democratic-led cities had asked the Biden administration for help in dealing with the influx of migrants into their communities. Biden, in turn, asked Congress for $1.4 billion in funding for the effort as part of his budget. But Congress allocated nothing and cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program by $150 million, from $800 million to $650 million.
“Whether we want the federal government to do it or not, that was no longer a choice for us,” Johnston said.
In Denver, the approximately 800 migrants currently in the city’s shelters would be first in line for the new program, called the Denver Asylum Seeker Program. The city expects the limit of about 1,000 to be reached in the coming days.
The city will still operate a joint shelter with a maximum stay of 24 to 72 hours – much shorter than previous shelter allowances that ranged from two to six weeks. The assumption, Johnston said, is that many newcomers will either move to other locations or settle with family and friends.
The city’s costs for supporting migrants will be roughly half of what they initially expected in January. Services such as leisure centers will come back online after the cuts to help ease the financial burden on the seven hotels it operated.
The program was made possible in part by people offering their apartments, rental assistance that doesn’t require U.S. citizenship, and nonprofit partnerships that provide debit cards to cook food at home — a less costly strategy than preparing people three meals a day in shelters. .
“We’re going to share this playbook with all the cities across the country, we think we’ve now cracked the code on how we can help people,” Johnston said.
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Bedayn is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.