During his 2023 campaign, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told voters he could end unsheltered homelessness in his first term. It was a big promise for a big problem that few mayors feel they can control.
Johnston wasn’t banking on political will alone. After serving two terms in the Colorado state Senate, he had led a foundation that worked on housing and homelessness issues. He met experts on the topic, visited sites, and felt that he knew what worked and what didn’t.
“I got a real sense that this problem could be solvable with the right amount of resources and the right team,” Johnston says.
Since taking office in July 2023, Johnston has worked to prove this point. The city can’t say there’s a place for every person who is unhoused, but it’s almost halfway there.
Denver’s high-water mark was 2023, when 1,423 people were living outdoors, says Cole Chandler, the city’s senior adviser for homelessness. By 2025, the unsheltered homeless count was 785, a 45 percent reduction. The number of unique encampments with 10 or more tents went down by more than 90 percent.
“Holding that trend over two years has been hard,” Chandler says. “We think our two-year reduction is the largest in the history of the point-in-time count.”
