The Denver City Council on Monday night amended zoning rules to allow permanent homeless shelters to be built throughout the city and to let temporary emergency shelters be set up in churches and schools across Denver.
The vote helps pave the way for implementing Mayor John Hickenlooper’s 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness, which goes before the council next week.
The most controversial zoning change allows the temporary suspension of zoning rules in emergency situations, such as extreme cold weather or violence against the homeless, in order to set up temporary shelters in buildings owned by nonprofit agencies and governmental entities such as schools. They would be allowed to hold up to 100 people for 120 days.
Councilman Doug Linkhart asked about the 500-foot boundary required between occupied schools and permanent shelters, only to be told by the city attorney’s office that temporary shelters don’t have to comply with the same rules as permanent shelters.
However, Debbie Ortega, chairwoman of the Mayor’s Commission to End Homelessness, said the Department of Human Services, which pays for the shelters, has decided it will not use schools as shelters. Council member Carol Boigon expressed concern that the ordinance language doesn’t exclude schools.
Zoning administrator Kent Strapko explained that the change doesn’t automatically allow a shelter to be set up in a school: A permit to use a school must be approved by a neighborhood oversight committee, by the appropriate council member and by his office.
Another change, aimed at preventing a greater concentration of emergency shelters near downtown, allows permanent emergency shelters to be built in most mixed-use zoning areas, which are zones allowing high-density residential properties, business and industrial properties. Mixed-use does not include low-density residential areas, according to the zoning office.
Under the new rules, the total number of beds allowed in any one emergency shelter increases from 200 to 350. But no more than 950 shelter beds will be allowed in any one council district.
Recently, churches have been asked during the coldest months to open as temporary emergency shelters for up to 75 days. The council voted to extend the period churches can house the homeless to 120 days.
This morning, Hickenlooper and others will announce a new permanent homeless shelter for up to 75 women to be owned and operated by The Delores Project, a nonprofit group.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
