An Embassy Suites hotel off of East Hampden Avenue in southeast Denver is the latest site selected for a homeless shelter under Mayor Mike Johnston’s plan to bring 1,000 people indoors by the end of the year.
His administration announced Wednesday that the 200-room property, located at 7525 E. Hampden Ave., just east of Interstate 25, will be converted to a shelter if the City Council approves a lease agreement and a contract with a yet-to-be-identified service provider to manage the property. It would open as a shelter catering primarily to families with children, as well as transgender individuals and gender non-conforming people, a news release says.
The hotel would become the first site in the southeastern part of the city to help meet the goal of Johnston’s House 1,000 initiative. The administration in recent weeks withdrew two other sites that were identified for micro-communities, which would have provided tiny homes or other temporary housing units; both faced significant neighborhood backlash and logistical challenges.
“This is the first temporary housing support location in District 4 and we think it’s the perfect, safe place for families to take the time they need to get back on their feet and move toward secure housing,” Councilwoman Diana Romero Campbell said in the release.
The city has scheduled a community meeting on the hotel plan for 10 a.m. Dec. 16 at Hamilton Middle School, 8600 E. Dartmouth Ave.
Last week, a Denver Post story looked at the status of other sites that were initially identified by the mayor’s office as potential locations across the city for hotel shelters and micro-communities.
