Denver Property Owners are Being Asked to Rent to Migrants; Denver Pleads with Landlords to Rent Their Properties to Migrants After Closing Shelters Costing $60 Million

Denver property owners are being asked to rent to migrants:

Property owners in Denver are being asked to rent their places out to migrants as the Colorado city shuts down four public-run shelters.

The Mile High City’s migrant services issued an email this week to property owners in the area seeking assistance in housing the city’s “newcomers” to get them out of shelters and into more stable housing.

“We put out a feeler to all the landlords we have connections with,” Jon Ewing from Denver Human Services told KDVR. “Basically said, listen, we’re going to have some newcomers who are going to need housing.”

The department’s email gauged the rental owners’ interest in opening their listings to the city’s migrants, but at a budget.

“We’ve got kind of a rent cap — $2,000,” Ewing added.

The emails come a week after Denver closed down four different shelters to save $60 million in what they labeled as “consolidation.”

“Denver today announced the consolidation of newcomer shelter operations from seven hotels to three by early April as part of the city’s strategy to move newcomers from shelter to stability,” the Denver Newcomer and Migrant Support website reads.

Denver was expected to pay nearly $180 million on the migrant crisis this year, but the savings announcement cut it down to $120 million, according to the Colorado Sun.

Venezuelans make up the vast majority of the over 40,000 migrants that have arrived in the Mile High City since 2023, according to the outlet.—>READ MORE HERE

Denver pleads with landlords to rent their properties to migrants after closing shelters costing $60 million:

Denver officials have asked landlords to rent to migrants who will need housing after the city shuts down several temporary hotel shelters as the number of new arrivals drops.

The city launched a program on Tuesday aimed at getting information from landlords on properties that rent for $2,000 per month or less, with officials emailing rental property owners asking if they would be interested in renting to migrants.

Democratic mayor Mike Johnston said last month the city would be closing four new migrant shelters, which would save up to $60 million from the $180million predicted cost of the crisis.

Johnston’s decision comes as the number of migrants staying in shelters has dropped in the last weeks, after it reached a peak of 5,200 in mid-January, as reported by Denverite. The city is currently sheltering less than 2,000 people.

‘We put out a feeler to all the landlords we have connections with,’ city Human Services spokesman Jon Ewing told Fox 31. ‘Basically said, listen, we’re going to have some newcomers who are going to need housing.’

Ewing added that the city has been able to get 1.3000 migrants work permits over the last weeks so they can earn money and pay for rent.

Last month Johnston announced he would slash $5 million from its Parks and Rec and DMV budgets as it faces a staggering $180 million bill to shelter migrants in 2024.

Denver received over 38,000 new migrants in just one year – mostly from Venezuela – with the city providing shelter for as many as 38,861 asylum seekers at a cost of $58 million so far. —>READ MORE HERE

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