Denver will turn two shelters that are currently used to house migrants into cold weather shelters for people without a roof over their heads, a reflection of the decreasing number of migrants coming to the city as the homelessness crisis in Denver persists.

The transition will occur later this month, the city announced in a press release Friday.

“We’re extremely proud to have met the moment by meeting the needs of the nearly 43,000 people who arrived in our city over these last two years,” City Councilman Amanda Sandoval said in a statement. “We will forever be indebted to and amazed by the countless individuals who stepped up and came forward to assist newcomers during this once in a lifetime crisis.”

Denver received fewer than 160 newcomers last month, resulting in a dramatic drop in shelter occupancy for migrants, city officials said. The recent immigration slowdown followed an influx of more than 40,000 migrants, many from Venezuela, who arrived in Denver from late 2022 through much of last year.

Under a new cold weather shelter plan, Denver will provide around-the-clock emergency shelter when there is a forecasted overnight low temperature of 25 degrees or 2 inches of snow accumulation. That eases the previous threshold of 20 degrees to open a shelter and expands stay time: under the old system, shelter users could only be in the facility from evening to the following morning.

“Time of day and a difference of a few degrees should not be the determining factor in whether you have a warm place to stay,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “Under this new policy, we will protect more people from life-threatening cold weather by providing the services they need to be safe and feel secure.”

This winter, the city will operate a total of three primary cold-weather shelters. Its revised plan, the city says, will increase the availability of cold weather shelters from around 40 days per season to more than 80. Denver is prepared to open additional shelter space “as may be necessary to meet the needs of our community.”

“It is simply wrong to leave people to fend for themselves in Colorado’s winter cold, when other more humane options are available,” Councilman Paul Kashmann said in a statement. “This new policy promises to reduce the number of folks who lose fingers and toes, if not their lives, when temperatures plummet.”

Denver will continue to partner with Catholic Charities to offer bridge housing for a limited number of newcomer families at the former Mullen Home site. That arrangement is scheduled to run through December. But the larger migrant sheltering program that was stood up last year will end.

“Short-term shelter operations specific to newcomers will end and Denver will cease to provide onward travel,” the city said in its release.

_____

©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.