Denver Community Planning and Housing Committee Meeting - December 16, 2025
Denver Community Planning and Housing Committee Meeting - December 16, 2025
This meeting covered two main agenda items: a unanimous committee vote to advance a landmark designation for "The Gables" apartment building to the full City Council, and a detailed quarterly briefing from the All In Mile High initiative on homelessness, including progress metrics, challenges, and upcoming contracts.
Consent Calendar
- The committee approved two consent items without discussion. Specific details were not provided in the transcript.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Landmark designation for The Gables (1407 E 11th Ave): The Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) reported receiving one letter of support from Neighbors for Greater Capitol Hill and two oral comments in support at the commission meeting from Neighbors for Greater Capitol Hill and Historic Denver. No opposition was noted.
Discussion Items
- Landmark Designation – The Gables (1407 E 11th Ave): LPC staff (Becca) presented the owner-supported application to designate the 1914 Tudor Revival apartment building as a Denver landmark. The building meets three of ten significance criteria: a good example of Tudor Revival style (Criterion C), a significant work of architect Montana S. Fallis (Criterion D), and a rare early example of adaptive reuse combining two single-family homes into a 14-unit building (Criterion G). The period of significance is 1914–1915. The property maintains historic integrity. Council members praised the building’s beauty, its link to the Mayan Theater (also by Fallis), and the owner’s initiative. The committee unanimously voted to forward the designation to City Council for a public hearing.
- Quarterly Briefing – All In Mile High (Homelessness Initiative): Cole Chandler (Senior Advisor on Homelessness) led the presentation with Jeff Kositsky (Deputy Director, HOST), Tristan Sanders (Director of Community Behavioral Health, DDPHE), and Emily Berger (Priority Populations Manager, DITO). Key updates included:
- Shelter and housing: As of September 30, 2025, 2,006 people had been sheltered and 1,180 housed toward the 2,000-person goal. By mid-December, housed numbers reached 1,630; year-end projection is ~1,650, slowed by lost housing vouchers.
- Unsheltered homelessness: Point-in-Time count shows a 45% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since the 2023 peak – the largest recorded reduction among large U.S. cities.
- Deaths among people experiencing homelessness: The Office of the Medical Examiner reported a reduction in deaths from a high in 2023, with 2024 and 2025 (partial) trending lower. Overdoses account for ~75% of deaths. Councilmember Alvidez noted a discrepancy between slide 5 (26% reduction) and the appendix slide (different numbers) and requested clarity from the Medical Examiner.
- Vehicular homelessness resolution: A dedicated outreach team launched October 2025 had resolved homelessness for 75 people (as of December 2), with nine vehicles voluntarily surrendered. The program places people into non-congregate shelter or housing.
- Street engagement software: Unified technology platform for deploying outreach teams delayed to early 2026.
- Behavioral health services: A $26 million contract with Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) will be amended in 2026 to include response time metrics, additional mobile medical services, and more nurse care coordinators. Current data shows 9.1 encounters per patient, with primary care, mental health, and counseling as top services.
- Workforce pilot: Of 300 people referred to rapid rehousing, 86 engaged with workforce services; 52 gained employment (60% of engaged), including positions with the city, airport, and private employers. Average wage increase was $2,466/month.
- Urban Institute evaluation: Long-term evaluation underway; interim report due 2027. Early findings show a 98% reduction in large encampments citywide.
- Council members discussed outreach in southeastern Denver, family homelessness coordination with HRCP, concerns about overdose deaths in shelters, and the need for better data on Medicaid enrollment and income. Councilmember Sawyer highlighted that visible signs of homelessness in East Denver (e.g., Evans & I-25) undermine public perception of the program’s success.
Key Outcomes
- Landmark designation for The Gables: Committee voted unanimously to forward the designation to City Council for a public hearing.
- Consent calendar items: Approved without objection.
- Quarterly briefing: No formal action taken; presentations received and filed. Committee members requested follow-up briefings on street engagement, the DPS homeless prevention pilot, and detailed monthly data from CCH on health encounters.
Meeting Transcript
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. You think something, okay. That's how we just started the meeting. We got on air, so killed on our sawyer in Denver. Shared with the group that she. Because we met some shelter dogs from the Denver Animal Shelter, which are very dogs. Adorable for Christmas. Unless you're allergic dogs, like our colleague from Mr. Five. Welcome to the community planning and housing committee meeting of whatever day this is, December 16th, 2025. I'm Sarah Fardy, you're one of your council members at large. And we will start on our right. I was just saying. To do my right, which I didn't know. Hi, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4. Good to think about it. Yeah, good afternoon, the very sneezy allergic to dogs of Andes Sawyer District 5. Morad Vitres with Lucky District 7. Good afternoon, Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6. Good afternoon, Darren Watson. Fine, Disney. Alright. And Becca's been here set up, just waiting to present this rezoning to us. So I'm not gonna make her wait any longer. Well, and it's actually a landmark designation. Well, you know, you're in for a treat. History lessons. Those are actually a lot more fun. Don't tell the don't tell the other folks. My lips are sealed. Good afternoon, Council. Um this designation application is for the Gables, an apartment building located at 1407 East 11th Avenue, which is on the corner of Lafayette and 11th Avenue. This is in Council District 10 in the Cheesman Park neighborhood. And this is an owner supported designation. You can see the proposed boundary on the screen. It encompasses the whole lot. As a reminder, per the landmark ordinance, which is chapter 30 of the revising municipal code. Uh there are four elements that we look at when we're deciding whether a building can be eligible to be a Denver landmark. It first must maintain its historic integrity. It must be more than 30 years old or have exceptional importance. It needs to meet at least three of ten significance criteria. The property we'll be talking about today qualifies under the following three uh categories that are folded here on the screen. Uh designation criteria C, D, and G. And I'll go through each of these in turn. So first, the property is a good example of the Tudor revival style. Built in 1914 to 1915, the three-story brick building embraces a style that was popular in Colorado during the 1910s and 1920s. Distinguishing features of the style are exhibited in the property, including masonry construction, half timbering with stucco infill on the upper levels, as you can see in the upper picture. Multiple prominent cross gables, a tower, and a prominent porch with masonry arch, which you can see in the lower picture. Additionally, the building has notable craftsman elements, a style that emerged from the arts and crafts movement of the earliest 20th century.
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