Denver’s Progress on Homelessness Offers Promising Path For Other Cities

Posted by Urban Institute on September 16, 2025

The Denver Mayor’s Office recently announced a 45 percent reduction in unsheltered homelessness from January 2023 to January 2025. Before then, unsheltered homelessness was worsening. In July 2023, following multi-year increases in unsheltered homelessness, Mayor Mike Johnston announced the House1000 initiative to move 1,000 people indoors, followed by the All In Mile High (AIMHigh) initiative in January 2024. AIMHigh is a citywide strategy to effectively end unsheltered homelessness by the end of 2026. The Urban Institute is evaluating AIMHigh’s implementation and effectiveness.

Denver reported a reduction in their point-in-time count, and the evaluation analyses show a substantial reduction in the number of large encampments in the city: 98 percent fewer groups of 20 or more people and 89 percent less groups of 10–20 people. As communities across the country struggle with helping people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and as responses to unsheltered homelessness are receiving additional public scrutiny, many cities have chosen to address this through sweeping encampments or criminalizing (arresting or fining) people for experiencing homelessness. But evidence shows criminalization and encampment sweeps don’t solve unsheltered homelessness. Early analysis from our evaluation of Denver’s initiative shows the AIMHigh strategies appear to be more effective—and are more humane—than criminalization or Denver’s previous efforts.

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