DENVER — On Monday, more than 120 migrant families will leave the shelters where they are staying.
They will be the first of about 800 who will be forced to leave as they time out of shelters over the next couple of weeks. The city had initially paused shelter exits due to the colder weather, but due to space and timing, that pause will end this week.
"We have filled every single hotel room that we have available in the city and county of Denver," Mayor Mike Johnston said during a town hall Tuesday.
Even with people leaving the shelters, the mayor expects the total number of people staying in shelters will remain the same -- somewhere around 4,000 to 5,000.
As of Sunday night, 3,857 migrants are currently being sheltered within the city and county of Denver. On Sunday, 101 arrived, also needing a place to go.
"Now we have the terrible decision that if we don’t start exiting folks, we will have 250 folks that will arrive today or the day after who don’t have anywhere to go on night," Johnston said Tuesday.
"We have never seen so many people come and so many people in the last year that are going to come out Feb. 5. So Feb. 5 for me is a date that hurts a lot because it’s a date that, for various reasons, we’re full. There’s just no more space," said Yoli Casas with ViVe Wellness, which continues to be one of the city's main partner organizations in the migrant response.
Casas is most concerned about Wednesday. The current plan is for different shelters to have people leave on different days. By Wednesday, multiple shelters will have done exits already or will be in the process of doing so.
Casas and the nonprofit are currently working on transitional housing for people leaving shelters.
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