Hotels that were converted into homeless shelters are changing management, and now the future of Denver’s end tent homelessness plan is unclear.
According to The Colorado Sun, the four former hotels that currently house people were repurposed by Denver’s Department of Housing Stability. The homes give shelter to those who formerly lived on the streets or relied on nightly shelters and are on-track towards landing permanent housing.
These shelters are part of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s initiative “All-in Mile High,” which aims to move people off the streets of Denver and into permanent or temporary housing—which has saw 7,500 people moved to shelters and 6,500 into housing.
The four former hotels are: a former Best Western near I-70 and Quebec (the Stone Creek Shelter), a former Embassy Suites on Hampden Ave (Tamarac Family Shelter),a former DoubleTree on Quebec Street (The Aspen Shelter), and lastly, the Comfort Inn Shelter, which is closing it’s shelter services in March.
These changes in management come from a Salvation Army statement back in August when the nonprofit announced they would no longer be providing services to these locations, citing financial sustainability as the grounds for ending their contracts. Despite these changes, The Salvation Army continues to operate four other shelters in Denver.
The Stone Creek Shelter, now owned by the St. Francis Center, claim that they will provide 24-hour shelter with health care, substance abuse treatment, and mental health support at Stone Creek, announcing last week that they were “deepening” their involvement with Denver’s hotel shelters as part of a “long-standing commitment to supporting individuals on their journey from homelessness to housing.”
According to the Common Sense Institute of Colorado, the number of unhoused individuals in the city of Denver has risen by 86% since 2019, and by 12% since just 2024. While there have been some moves to address homelessness in Denver, shelter workers are going to be scrambling to help these unhoused individuals—especially with these recent closures and management changes.
