Denver HOST seeks one-year extension of housing strategy while it prepares long-range plan
The proposed 2027 continuation would maintain current goals while HOST completes a Housing Needs Assessment and broader community engagement.
Denver’s Department of Housing Stability is seeking a one-year continuation of its housing and homelessness strategy through 2027 while it completes a citywide Housing Needs Assessment and prepares a new long-range plan for implementation in 2028.
The HOST strategic-plan proposal sets 2027 targets of developing at least 930 housing units, preserving at least 490 income-restricted homes, preventing homelessness for at least 700 households, sheltering 12,000 unique households and placing 2,000 households in permanent or stable housing. It also calls for serving 3,200 households through rehousing and supportive-housing programs.
The plan has not been adopted. Denver City Council’s Community Planning and Housing Committee is scheduled to consider the continuation plan and related code amendments Sept. 1. The committee agenda provides 15 minutes for public testimony on the code-amendment item, followed by discussion and possible committee action. The agenda does not establish that the committee or full council has approved either measure.
Why HOST wants more time
HOST’s current strategic plan covers 2022 through 2026. The department says a replacement plan requires more stakeholder engagement and data from the Housing Needs Assessment, so it is proposing to continue and adapt the existing strategy for one year rather than substantially rewrite its goals before that work is complete.
HOST plans to begin fuller engagement at the end of 2026, present the next long-range plan by Sept. 1, 2027, and begin implementing it in January 2028. An RFP for project management and stakeholder engagement was under review when the proposal was presented.
The Housing Needs Assessment solicitation describes an assessment of current and future housing needs at all income levels, along with an anti-displacement and reinvestment strategy. HOST said the assessment was nearly complete and expected its full results in fall 2026. No final assessment or findings were available in the records reviewed.
Targets and funding
HOST also proposes reducing overall homelessness by 30% in 2027 compared with 2024 and maintaining an unsheltered Point-in-Time count of 350 people. The proposal says the department would continue toward “functional zero” for veteran homelessness by housing at least as many veterans each month as are experiencing homelessness.
It lists 2021 housing-cost burden at 59%, with a goal of reducing it to 51%; low- and moderate-income homeownership at 36%, with a goal of 41%; and BIPOC homeownership at 41%, with a goal of 45%. The proposal does not provide numerical baselines for most of its housing and household targets or the 2024 homelessness count used for the planned reduction.
The documents do not identify a dedicated 2027 appropriation or guarantee that the goals are fully funded. Denver’s Affordable Housing Fund policy review says the fund provides approximately $30 million annually for affordable rental, homeownership and supportive housing, as well as program services. It also says HOST funding typically represented 5% to 6% of overall project costs in preservation deals.
A proposed 2025 city budget identified $2.3 million for HOST administration, but that proposal is not a 2027 budget commitment. HOST stakeholder feedback identified prevention and rental assistance as severely underfunded and called for more stable, flexible funding.
Proposed code changes
The proposed legislation would amend Denver Revised Municipal Code Sections 27-150 and 27-164. The Legistar matter description says the changes would authorize HOST to submit a one-year continuation plan for 2027 and require the department to bring its next long-range plan forward for approval in September 2027, with implementation beginning in January 2028.
A related resolution would approve the continuation plan if the legislative changes advance. The available records do not show final passage, a signed ordinance or an adopted resolution.
The immediate questions are whether the council will approve the continuation, how much funding will be available in 2027 and what the Housing Needs Assessment will show.