Migrants, advocacy group say city's plan to provide 6 months of free housing, other services is 'insufficient'

A housing advocacy organization and migrants in Denver, Colorado, recently organized a protest against the city's "insufficient" plan to provide 1,000 migrants with six months of free housing and a number of other services, KMGH-TV reported.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) announced an immigration program last week to address the increase in migrant arrivals. More than 40,000 illegal migrants have arrived in the city since December 2020.

The mayor's new Denver Asylum Seekers Program aims to provide longer-term solutions to address the city's migrant crisis. It will provide six months of rent, food assistance, job training, and more to 1,000 migrants.

Migrants arriving in Denver after April 10 will be required to vacate the city's shelters after 24 to 72 hours. After that, they will be "provided a short-term stay at a congregate site along with assistance securing onward travel to another destination." Previously, migrants were able to stay in the shelters for two to six weeks.

Along with the new migrant program, Johnston also announced considerable budget cuts, including slashing the Denver Police Department's budget by $8.4 million, the sheriff's office by $3.8 million, and the fire department by $2.4 million, the Daily Mail reported.

Johnston stated during a Wednesday press conference, "We will take all the folks that are in shelter tonight and be able to right away allow them access to that program. They will be the first in line to that program."

"It'll be somewhere around 1,000 [people] that will enter into the program as we launch it in the next few days," he continued.

Housekeys Action Network Denver, a housing advocacy group, claimed that the mayor's plan would force migrants to "fend for themselves after 24 to 72 hours," KMGH reported.

The organization called the program "a slap in the face and an offensive period of time."

Willy Bastidas, a migrant, told the news outlet, "I think that it's insufficient."

"The mayor doesn't represent us. ... He needs to listen to us and work with us to a better solution," Bastidas added.

Jon Ewing, a spokesperson with Denver Human Resources, told KMGH, "Denver has never turned anyone away and never will. We will still provide temporary shelter so that new arrivals to our city have a place to stay and we will still help them get to family, friends or other networks of support. We will still provide meals and we will still address immediate medical concerns. But we must transition to a long-term model that serves those currently in our care in a much more substantial way than what has previously been offered. We believe the Denver Asylum Seekers Program does just that."

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