The global population might experience further harm or trauma. We heard from the community that it was important for us to audit city shelters in light of the mayor's new initiatives to address homelessness. With more than 6,000 people experiencing homelessness in Denver, it is critical for the city programs to serve them effectively. The Department of Housing Stability oversees a variety of Denver's homeless shelters. It funds and monitors the providers that operate shelters. Our audit found risks involving the department's expenses, security, non-discrimination policies, and information protection practices related to shelters. Housing stability agreed with all but one of our recommendations to address these weaknesses. Given the size and scope of our audits, it is important to note this audit did not include emergency shelters temporarily serving the influx of migrants arriving in Denver since December 2022. Our auditors found that housing stability does not adequately ensure safety at shelters. The city contracted with the Salvation Army to operate a shelter at a former hotel and provided them with a security budget of more than $800,000. Months later, the Salvation Army had not yet hired a contractor to manage a security presence at the property. Sadly, two guests were shot and killed. Another guest was shot weeks later. These incidents likely traumatized shelter guests and could have affected the engagement and morale of shelter staff. Our audit also found flaws with reporting expenses. Housing stability was unable to provide documentation identifying overall shelter-related spending between January 2022 and March 2024. Based on our review of invoices, we estimated the department spent nearly 150 million dollars in this period. Also, we found housing stability started a policy to not require shelters to provide meaningful documentation for reimbursement. In reviewing the new guidance, we found it did not comply with city rules on supporting documentation, such as requiring original receipts or credit card statements to reimburse cost for goods and services. The department disagreed with our recommendation to end their cost reimbursement policy. Issuing reimbursements without evidence puts the city at risk of fraud, waste, and abuse. Sensitive confidential data of housing guests was left unprotected in a shared drive that staff in other city agencies could access. Separately, our auditors found the Salvation Army's employee handbook conflicts with the contract with the city. The handbook says the Salvation Army will follow non-discrimination law unless it goes against their religious practice. We will conduct a follow-up to see if and how housing stability responds to our audit recommendations. The audit report is available at Denver Auditor.org. Well, that's it for this episode of Ask the Auditor. If you have a question, submit it to auditor at Denvergov.org, and maybe your question will be the next question we ask on the next episode of Ask the Auditor. The challenges our planet's animals are facing sometimes feel a bit heavy. Animals haven't eaten in a day, two days, they haven't drank anything. They're old, they're dehydrated. But remember, there's good happening right now. At home, we were able to get into a unit, and we have all four of your cats to uh and around the world for any animal. Any disaster. Search IPA.org forward slash disaster ready. You know, a lot of people say when you're going somewhere you don't want to look back, but I beg a different. I can't lie, I say it was easy. I looked at everything in a different light. I realized it started with me going back and get my high school diploma. Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the community planning and housing committee with Denver City Council. Your community planning and housing committee starts now. There is the green line. All right. Um good afternoon, everybody. Today is August 26, 2025, and this is the meeting of your community planning and housing committee. Which I'm gonna just quickly clarify also covers homelessness. Um I've noticed a lot of folks in the community have been confused about that because we took it out of the title. Um but the way we do these committees is per agency, and our entire um housing agency rolls up to this committee, which of course, you know, two of their three pillars, well, really all of their pillars have to do with um homelessness resolution and prevention. So very much also focused on homelessness along with all kinds of other very fun stuff. Um, and with that, I am Sarah Parity, I'm your Denver City Council Member at Large, one of the two, and I will start with council member introductions to my right.