Health and Safety Committee Meeting - February 25, 2026
Health and Safety Committee Meeting - February 25, 2026
The Health and Safety Committee of the Denver City Council met on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 10:30 AM in Room 391 of the City & County Building. Chair Darrell Watson presided. The committee heard two briefings and approved two consent items.
Consent Calendar
- 26-0170: Approved a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration for $2,135,483.00 with an end date of 2-28-2027 to provide care, treatment, and supportive services to individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the Denver Transitional Grant Area through the 2026 Ryan White Part A Renewal Grant Award (Round 1), citywide.
- 26-0171: Approved a grant agreement with Caring for Denver Foundation for $506,389.00 with an end date of 11-30-2027 to establish a Peer Support Supervision and Technical Assistance Hub, supporting peer support programs and launching Denver’s first Peer Support Registered Apprenticeship Program, citywide.
Caring for Denver Foundation Update (26-0191)
Lorez Meinhold, Executive Director of Caring for Denver Foundation, presented on community engagement and strategic funding. She highlighted that access to trusted care remains the top community priority and outlined three areas: care that fits, care transitions, and stronger care systems. The foundation has a $2.5 million administrative budget and is subject to an annual audit. Meinhold acknowledged an audit finding regarding approximately $1,000 per year over three years for alcohol reimbursement, which was allowable under nonprofit policies but symbolically problematic; the foundation will no longer reimburse alcohol.
Councilmembers raised concerns about the audit response, particularly disagreements with some recommendations. Councilmember Torres expressed discomfort with the foundation’s autonomy given its sole source of tax dollars. The foundation and DDPHE (Megan Parizzo) explained that disagreements were often due to the 500-character response limit and the desire to align changes with the ordinance renewal in 2027. Councilmember Flynn questioned due diligence on grantee background checks; the foundation noted that the city does not require individual background checks for its own grants. Councilmember Alvidrez asked about seven grants awarded to the foundation itself; Meinhold clarified those were grants for capacity building of nonprofits, with funds going to contractors, not the foundation. Councilmember Parady raised concerns about the legal interpretation of the ordinance and sought clarity on whether certain funded activities could be challenged. Councilmember Sandoval questioned the foundation structure vs. other 501(c)(3) entities. Councilmember Gonzales-Gutierrez asked about the grantee selection process and scoring; the foundation explained they use a high/medium/low assessment tool rather than numerical scoring, and will improve documentation.
Residential Health Task Force Update (26-0192)
Danica Lee and Nicol Caldwell from DDPHE presented on enforcement of housing habitability standards. They reported that in 2024, nine investigators handled approximately 1,800 complaints, issued 99 administrative citations totaling about $415,000, and implemented a lien process for unpaid fines totaling $520,000. The fine cap was raised from $999 to $5,000 per violation per day. The team conducted proactive inspections and collaborated with licensing. A stakeholder group, initiated in February 2025, has produced recommendations around tenant protection, reporting, and enforcement. New measures include copying complainants on all orders and developing a public violation enforcement dashboard. The dashboard allows searches by address and shows complaints, inspections, citations, and fines; a heat map by council district is forthcoming. Challenges remain with out-of-state investor owners and multi-unit issues. A formal regulation revision process will begin in the coming months.
Councilmember Gonzales-Gutierrez praised the work and noted upcoming policy efforts with Councilmember Sawyer. Councilmember Parady highlighted the increase in fines as proof of progress and raised concerns about tenants displaced by placarded properties; she suggested better connection to housing navigation services.
Key Outcomes
- Both consent items were approved unanimously.
- The Caring for Denver Foundation will revise its alcohol reimbursement policy and improve documentation of grantee selection processes.
- DDPHE will continue stakeholder engagement and begin formal regulation revisions, with a focus on tenant empowerment, data accessibility, and enforcement against out-of-state owners.
- A public dashboard for housing violations is operational, with a council district heat map under development.
- Councilmembers expressed intent to bring forward policy proposals related to tenant protection in coordination with the mayor’s office.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council. Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now. Good morning. Today is uh February 25th. This is a I can't speak. The Health and Safety Committee. My name is Daryl Watson. I'm honored to serve as the chair of the Health and Safety Committee as well as City Councilmember representing all of the fine district nine. We have two uh briefings uh this morning and two consent items before we go into the presentations. Why don't we have uh city council member introductions? I'll start on your right. Oh, start on the left. All right. Good morning. Rara Vitres, we're lucky to strike seven. Sarah Parity, one of your council members at large. Uh Paul Cash with South Denver District Six. Uh good morning, everyone. Serena Gonzalez Coquetes. Your other council member at large, Jamie Torres, West Denver District Three. And Alyssa Pierce, we have some uh council members online. Is Council Member Flynn online? Uh, sorry, I'm higher. Cardin Flynn, Southwest Members District Two. Thank you. Is there anyone else virtual? A little teacher pause. I'll be here in feed. Sorry. No, you're right on time. You're right on time. We'll just check with virtual. We have Councilmember Flynn and then Councilmember. Hi, Vienna Sawyer, district. Well, thank you so much, everyone, for being here. Um we're kicking off. I'm just see, I just got to notice. All right, no one else is online. Um we're kicking off with a briefing from our friends at Caring for Denver, Lorez Meinhold. Um, do you mind introducing yourself and any other members of your team? And the floor is yours. Thank you. Uh Lorez Meinhold, executive director of Caring for Denver Foundation, and I'm joined by Kindle Morrell, who's our director of communications and community engagement. So I think we have, and so part of the really always appreciate the opportunity to be in front of City Council and share the work that we are doing. And so today we're talking about as part of our ordinance, we are required to engage community into the use of the funds, and that really informs our community strategic funding. And so that's what we're here to present today, as well as uh so share what we've heard from Denver residents and partners, show how that's shaped the strategic funding plan, and also a brief update on the audit and answer any questions committee members may have. So, really wanted to center it again about how we work. And so the center of everything we do is community, really meeting community where they're at to really identify solutions that work best for them. So community directly evolves and adapts how we fund, helps us identify gaps in funding resources and connections, and also keeps our work relevant to emerging issues. It also shapes our call for proposals so that when we put something out, it's really reflecting what community told us what's more most important.
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