Englewood staff seek council direction on $80,000 downtown liaison, homelessness response

Englewood city staff will ask the City Council on Sept. 8 for direction on an expanded response to homelessness and downtown cleanliness, including an estimated $80,000 part-time liaison, a business reporting portal, more frequent bus-stop inspections and possible changes to camping and nuisance rules.

The proposals follow a July community conversation attended by 17 representatives from 13 businesses in the CityCenter, Broadway/South Broadway and Wellness District areas. The 90-minute, English-only session did not include every interested business and did not fully address services and housing, according to the meeting report.

The city staff presentation and meeting packet describe the Sept. 8 item as informational. Staff are seeking council feedback and direction; the packet does not show that the council has approved any proposal.

Proposed liaison and reporting system

Staff propose hiring or assigning a part-time Downtown Liaison to conduct daily inspections, document graffiti, debris, vandalism, nuisance activity and people needing assistance, enter quality-of-life issues into EngleFix, coordinate with city departments and track follow-up. The position is targeted for fall 2026.

The presentation estimates the position would cost $80,000 annually, including benefits. It identifies 35% of the funding as coming from an Events budget 0.5 full-time-equivalent position described as already in place, and 65% from a vacant 0.5 FTE in the Parks budget. A staff memo separately recommends using part of roughly $150,000 already appropriated in two nuisance-abatement funds for the liaison.

The packet does not identify a separate cost for a proposed website and reporting portal. Staff said draft content had been developed and targeted a mid-September launch, likely through EngleFix. Businesses would be able to submit concerns, while staff would use mapping and monthly status reports to track responses. Staff said they would review the data after October and adjust resource allocation as needed.

Other proposals include quarterly Broadway Business Safety Network meetings, a business guide based on crime-prevention-through-environmental-design principles, additional daytime police presence when staffing allows, twice-daily weekday bus-stop inspections, graffiti and shopping-cart removal, and coordination with service providers for transportation and referrals.

Possible code changes

Staff are asking the council to consider applying camping restrictions to private commercial property under standards similar to those used on public property. They also raised possible limited residential exceptions, such as allowing camping for up to 72 hours, while retaining clearer restrictions on commercial property.

The discussion could also include advance warnings before abatements, partnerships with service providers and continued use of an abatement contract for specific encampments.

The packet says Englewood already prohibits blocking streets, passages and sidewalks; overnight camping in city parks and open spaces; camping on city-owned property where signs prohibit it; parking violations; and nuisances or other public hazards. It also says the city has not adopted a full public-property camping ban or a blanket camping ban in rights of way outside streets and sidewalks.

Separately, the City Attorney’s Office has identified unclear municipal authority to remove and dispose of abandoned personal property. The packet anticipates bringing an ordinance clarifying that authority to the council by October 2027. That is a staff expectation, not evidence that an ordinance has been introduced or adopted.

305-unit regional estimate

The packet cites a regional feasibility assessment by the Corporation for Supportive Housing and Arapahoe County, Englewood, Littleton and Sheridan. It estimates that 305 permanent supportive-housing units would be needed across the Tri-Cities region to end chronic homelessness and proposes a 10-year funding and implementation roadmap.

The available packet does not explain how the estimate was calculated. It does not identify the underlying data, the definition of chronic homelessness, the geographic boundaries, a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction allocation or whether the 305 units represent an existing backlog, projected 10-year need or another measure. It also does not provide an uncertainty range or explain how people not captured in administrative systems were accounted for.

The 305-unit figure is therefore a staff-reported regional planning estimate, not a fully documented needs calculation in the materials available for the Sept. 8 meeting. The packet also does not establish whether the regional roadmap has been adopted or funded.