Tuesday, July 21, 2026, 1:30 p.m. (Denver time), City & County Building, Room 391
The Community Planning and Housing Committee received a briefing from Cole, Executive Director of the Department of Housing Stability (HOST), on the HOST 2026 Action Plan, which was approved by the Housing Stability Strategic Advisors in April. Cole reported a 64% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since 2023 and a 12% reduction in overall homelessness in the latest point-in-time count, and outlined the department's four pillars, budget sources, and goals for housing opportunity and homelessness resolution. Cole explained that the 2021 five-year strategic plan expires at the end of 2026, and HOST will bring a one-year continuation plan to Council in September 2026, followed by a new long-term strategic plan in September 2027 informed by a housing needs assessment due in December 2026. Council members asked about retention data, tracking of strategic plan goals, anti-displacement measurement, budget and funding levels, family and domestic-violence-related homelessness, contract cycles, eviction right-to-counsel funding, and coordination with DHA and other agencies on a comprehensive housing strategy. No votes were taken.
0:05 Welcome back to this weekly
0:06 meeting of the community
0:07 Planning and Housing Committee
0:09 with Denver City Council.
0:14 If your community planning and
0:16 Housing Committee starts now.
0:33 Planning and I'm immense. But
0:34 is any northwest when we
0:35 haven't really exciting agenda
0:38 and headed today and despite
0:41 But let's go ahead and get
0:42 started with introductions and
0:45 I'll start online.
0:49 Everyone should is come to
0:54 district 8. Thank you. And now
0:55 right. If not, I'll be this
0:56 lucky district 7 and so you're
0:58 just or fights. Well,
1:01 conditions, something district
1:02 standings, Diana Romero,
1:03 Campbell, sentenced Amber
1:03 District, 4. There are lots
1:11 and 5 district 9, Jamie
1:12 tourist, a separate issue, And
1:16 now I have host plan 2026 for
1:16 plan even though it's
1:17 happening to the I do know
1:21 that we have a new executive
1:21 directors. If you just want
1:23 give a little history and how
1:24 you got here, Cole, that would
1:26 be great for the public who
1:28 MAY not know all of
1:29 intricacies and Denver for not
1:31 passing over floor is yours.
1:32 Wonderful. Thank you so much.
1:33 Goaltender the executive
1:35 director and the Department of
1:36 Housing stability been in that
1:39 role since APRIL 13. So just
1:43 over 3 months a little
1:45 personal history I grew up in
1:48 Texas. Did a master of
1:51 divinity degree. I moved to
1:54 Denver to join the Denver
1:55 Catholic worker community
1:55 moved into the Catholic Worker
1:59 House in 2014. So I started to
2:02 learn housing and
2:03 homelessness. Issues first
2:03 hand from the people. I love
2:04 it with the people that I
2:06 volunteered alongside that
2:08 work led to some advocacy work
2:11 where I helped a lot co-found
2:12 the Colorado Village
2:13 Collaborative and started the
2:17 tiny homes model here in
2:19 Denver worked with several
2:20 members of city Council passed
2:23 and PRESIDENT To bring that
2:24 forward. Spent a year after
2:26 that. The state working.
2:29 Working on the governor's
2:30 well, the important goal
2:31 related to homelessness then
2:32 joined the Johnson
2:33 administration as the senior
2:37 adviser on homelessness and
2:37 2023. And I'm now very pleased
2:40 to lead the Department of
2:41 Housing stability. And so it's
2:43 a little bit my past. But we
2:44 are grateful to all of you for
2:48 your partnership ball a long
2:49 way from my time in community
2:51 to my time down leading this
2:53 agency and so host has a 2026
2:55 action plan which was adopted
2:59 by housing stability,
3:01 Strategic advisors at my first
3:02 meeting with group back APRIL.
3:04 And so I'm happy to provide
3:04 bit of a briefing to you on
3:08 that action plan today. All
3:10 right. So we have a bit of our
3:12 agenda here. A look at some of
3:16 our 2025 accomplishments. The
3:17 current post organizational
3:18 structure. Just to give you an
3:19 idea of kind how we work and
3:25 who we are. We will look at
3:28 core departmental priorities
3:32 and 2026 goals as All right,
3:33 starting with a look back and
3:36 a look at our structure. I you
3:37 know, of course, as we think
3:41 about what we have
3:41 accomplished that host over
3:43 the last couple of years,
3:45 we're really proud of the
3:48 reduction that we delivered in
3:50 unsheltered homeless as a 64%
3:51 reduction sense 2023, we're
3:55 proud of the fact that this
3:57 calendar year we've delivered
3:58 Denver's first reduction in
3:59 overall homelessness and more
4:01 than a decade. That was a 12%
4:04 Last point in time. Count. So
4:05 those are some of the outcomes
4:10 that we're really proud The
4:11 homelessness. Obviously
4:14 oriented around our goals to
4:15 increase housing
4:16 affordability, decrease the
4:17 number of low and middle
4:21 income households that are
4:22 living Hosford and and some of
4:25 the ways that we towards that,
4:27 that some of the inputs that
4:28 we measure our the number of
4:30 units that were creating and
4:31 preserving as well as the
4:32 number of households that were
4:34 serving in terms of prevention
4:36 work. Then the number of
4:38 households that we're bringing
4:39 out of homelessness through
4:41 our homelessness resolution
4:43 work. So here's some of that
4:46 key data from 2025, but happy
4:46 to dive into that more as we
4:47 go throughout the
4:51 presentation. It's bit about
4:53 our structure. You know, we
4:54 really have 2 primary
4:57 divisions delivering our work.
5:01 You can think of these as 4
5:02 pillars across our
5:05 organization. We have the
5:06 housing, instability and
5:06 homelessness resolution
5:08 pillar. That work is led by
5:11 Deputy director Jeff
5:11 Kaczynski, who, you will be in
5:15 committee and the next week's
5:16 presenting on. Our
5:17 performance-based contracts
5:19 are housing opportunity where
5:24 led by interim deputy Director
5:26 Eli Mitchell. And so that
5:27 oversees the investments that
5:29 we make it affordable housing,
5:33 the work that we do to prevent
5:37 displacement as well as our
5:39 preservation, where and our
5:40 asset management and
5:43 compliance Every time that
5:44 invested dollar and creating a
5:45 building. We ensure that that
5:46 building maintains its
5:47 affordability through our
5:47 asset management compliance
5:50 work. And so that's really the
5:51 kind of the core functions of
5:55 the organization. But then we
5:58 also have an operations and
6:01 division. That's where all of
6:03 our finance are, contracts and
6:07 procurement and all of our
6:09 data word work is currently
6:13 led by a couple of directors.
6:14 Web is our finance director
6:18 for air. And as our contracts
6:21 CHAIRMAN And then the other
6:24 piece artwork that's really
6:25 pivotal is the communications
6:27 community engagement public
6:32 policy where so that is led by
6:35 their I'm sorry put well as a
6:42 performing artist that I like
6:47 I focusing on bizarre director
6:48 apology works on that team as
6:49 our council liaison. And we
6:51 have community engagement team
6:52 as well. So those are the 4
6:54 kind of pillars of our
6:55 organization. We have a
6:55 six-person executive
7:01 leadership team right now team
7:03 is diverse in every way male
7:04 and female racially diverse,
7:05 diverse. In terms of bt q
7:08 inclusion and that sort thing.
7:14 So guiding our work looking at
7:16 our priorities. So I think the
7:17 sections a little bit about
7:21 kind of host governance goals.
7:23 I think one thing that, you
7:24 know, we are oriented around
7:27 our 5 year strategic plan.
7:30 Some of you were a part of the
7:31 adoption of a strategic
7:33 COUNCILMAN Watson was the
7:33 chair of hsa say is this
7:37 think it's important. We talk
7:37 process was going through. I
7:39 about this 5 year strategic
7:40 plan to just know a little bit
7:41 of hosts. History Post was
7:44 founded in 2019. There was a
7:46 global pandemic and
7:48 twenty-twenty parents, you
7:50 know, it's very dynamic time
7:52 in the life of a brand new
7:53 organization in Twenty-twenty,
7:54 a huge influx of federal arpa
7:55 dollars that happened during
7:59 that time period. Influx of a
8:04 special revenue fund and the
8:04 homelessness Revolution.
8:10 Resolution, hoses resolution
8:11 find there was approved by
8:14 voters in 2020 as well. And
8:16 then this plan was adopted by
8:19 council in 2021. So the plan
8:23 ran 2021 to 2026. Public
8:23 engagement process. When I was
8:25 in the community, I was part
8:29 of that process. But the
8:33 vision that plan is to create
8:34 a healthy housing connect to
8:35 Denver. And the plan really
8:36 outlines how we would do that
8:38 by investing our resources on
8:39 the homelessness resolution
8:40 side, housing opportunity
8:41 site. And then really what
8:42 would be needed in terms of
8:44 the operations of the overall
8:46 organization. So that's the
8:48 plan put in place in 2021.
8:49 That plan expiring at the end
8:50 of this year. And we'll talk a
8:51 little bit more about kind of
8:51 some of our next steps as we
8:55 go through the presentation.
8:59 There are 4 pillars outline
9:00 that Our organizational
9:02 structure reflects those 4
9:03 pillars, housing opportunity,
9:04 housing, stability, homeless,
9:08 this resolution operations.
9:10 Then I spoke a bit earlier
9:11 about kind of our governing
9:15 body, the housing stability,
9:16 Strategic advisors, Purdy rmc.
9:17 This body meets 6 to 8 times
9:22 per year. It is made up of
9:23 believe, equal parts of
9:26 mayoral appointees and council
9:28 appointees. And there's
9:29 actually council appointed
9:29 position that we're working on
9:33 filling right now. But this
9:35 body is really responsible for
9:38 approving our annual action
9:42 plan. And recommending our
9:42 strategic plan to move
9:43 forward. Tears City Council
9:47 process and that sort of
9:49 thing. So the action
9:51 presenting on today, as I
9:54 mentioned, was approved by a
9:56 back in APRIL. And then
9:58 actually at our meeting just
10:00 last Friday, they the
10:01 continuation strategic plan
10:02 that we will be bringing
10:03 forward to on discussing with
10:08 you on coming months. In terms
10:09 of kind of our big priorities
10:12 and the way we fit into
10:13 citywide goals. Obviously 2 of
10:17 parcel of the work that we do.
10:17 citywide goals are part and
10:18 It one of those is the
10:22 Affordable Denver goal to
10:23 deliver 2500 affordable units
10:25 and permit an additional 5,000
10:27 total units at host. We are
10:28 really focused on the 1st half
10:31 of that delivering the 2500
10:34 units. Cpd focused on the
10:35 permitting as well the Denver
10:36 permitting office study all
10:37 agencies involved and
10:41 permitting. On one mile high
10:43 we are focused on reducing
10:44 street homelessness by 75%
10:47 since 2023. And alongside of a
10:50 lot of other city partners
10:51 working on responding to
10:52 street engagement request
10:56 within a single business day.
10:59 So again, these are citywide
11:02 goals, but goals are part and
11:03 parcel the work. We do a host
11:06 and we have department all
11:07 that are outlined in action
11:07 plan that a line towards the
11:10 schools. And talk about that
11:12 and the next slides. So start
11:14 with the housing opportunity
11:18 site and there's a lot of lot
11:19 of words on the slide. But I
11:24 think some Metrics that I want
11:25 to orient here and then just
11:26 kind of a bit the what we
11:29 think about sort of what we're
11:32 doing now to bring units
11:33 online this year. What we're
11:36 doing to see the units for
11:39 next year and then some of the
11:40 policy and environmental
11:41 conversation that we're having
11:42 to make way for affordability
11:43 in Denver's future is kind of
11:45 the way that these 3 goals are
11:47 outlined. So the first call is
11:51 what we will deliver terms of
11:52 newly developed units can
11:53 preserve units this year.
11:57 These are units that
11:58 investments made in previous
11:59 years will open their doors to
12:05 new people moving into those
12:08 units be maintained through
12:09 preservation work that
12:10 specifically preserves units
12:11 that would otherwise be
12:13 expiring due to expire in
12:14 affordability. Covenants. So
12:15 that's the first piece around
12:21 those 575 and 900 units. The
12:24 next piece is what we are
12:26 seeing this that will be
12:29 opened in future years. And
12:32 are major sources of funding
12:32 related to housing opportunity
12:34 come the Affordable Housing
12:37 Fund, which is property tax
12:42 and linkage fee, sets aside.
12:44 Money for us to through really
12:47 gap financing as our primary
12:52 tool. And so we invest
12:54 alongside the state private
12:55 investors in order to make
12:58 affordable housing development
13:01 possible. The other piece that
13:03 we have made available by
13:03 allocation of the state is
13:07 private activity, bonds that
13:09 we leverage in order bring
13:11 units online. And so this year
13:12 through investments that we're
13:13 making and future projects
13:16 receiving another 1500 units
13:17 that will open in future years
13:18 as those developments
13:21 complete. And then the 3rd
13:22 piece is really around the
13:24 policy environment that will
13:26 make future affordability
13:29 possible. And so 3rd year
13:32 conversations with interagency
13:35 group Sand External Partners.
13:37 We are very much focused what
13:43 we can do to reduce red tape
13:44 ensure that 30 partnership
13:46 with the market were able to
13:49 deliver more affordable units
13:55 by 2028 and beyond. All right.
13:56 So that's on the housing
13:58 opportunity site flipping over
13:59 to the housing stability and
14:00 homelessness resolution side
14:03 of the organization want to
14:04 talk about some of the
14:06 different focus is that we
14:07 have, as we think about the
14:10 continuum of homelessness. You
14:11 know, the first piece is
14:12 ensuring that people don't
14:14 become homeless in the first
14:15 when people are currently in
14:16 their housing. How do we keep
14:19 them in that housing? There's
14:22 a large spectrum really, of
14:25 the way that invested across
14:26 prevention programs. But this
14:27 particular wig that were
14:28 pointing out as a part of this
14:31 action plan, about how we
14:32 prevent households from
14:33 literally becoming homeless.
14:36 And so this is specifically
14:37 targeting households that have
14:38 experienced homelessness in
14:40 the past because they're most
14:41 likely to experience
14:42 homelessness again. And so
14:43 when they're in that housing,
14:45 how do we ensure that they
14:46 maintain not? That's there's
14:47 some rapid resolution programs
14:49 that we have as well as
14:50 through eviction prevention.
14:51 And so those are some of our
14:54 dollars that we leverage in
14:55 order to ensure that those
14:55 households will not become
14:59 homeless again. The next piece
15:01 of the spectrum is sort of one
15:02 someone becomes homeless. How
15:03 do we navigate them from where
15:06 they are on the streets?
15:06 However, that MAY be in the
15:08 shelter and into the broader
15:12 continuum of housing. And so
15:14 our goal this year through a
15:15 partnership with other
15:18 agencies to ensure that every
15:20 3, 1, 1, call that comes in
15:21 related to homelessness that
15:22 we're able to respond to
15:25 within a single business to
15:28 get high to, to get services
15:29 out to those individuals, find
15:30 out what their needs are and
15:33 help them navigate towards
15:35 next location and previous