Denver (still) isn't tracking millions in spending on homeless sweeps, audit finds

Driving the news: The audit is a follow-up to a 2023 report that found the city, under former Mayor Michael Hancock, was likely underestimating how much it spends on encampment outreach, cleanup and enforcement.

• It also comes on the heels of a separate audit last fall that found Johnston's team is struggling to keep homeless shelters safe and falling short on tracking costs.

What they found: The city's homeless encampment response still has major accountability gaps:

• No clear system exists to track cleanup costs, monitor contracts or verify services are delivered.
• Property storage — which holds belongings seized from encampments — lacks oversight, including whether it's secure or accessible to its owner.
• Daily coordination meetings about encampment actions aren't documented, leaving key decisions without a paper trail.

By the numbers: The city has fully implemented just six of the 36 recommendations from the auditor's 2023 report, despite agreeing to fulfill them all, per the report.

What they're saying: "Given the millions of dollars spent across several years to address homelessness, the city's continued inability to properly monitor expenses is problematic," Denver auditor Timothy O'Brien said in a statement.

• "Residents expect their tax dollars [to] be used effectively and appropriately for such an important and ongoing issue," he added.

The other side: Johnston's office referred Axios Denver to statements his senior homeless adviser Cole Chandler shared with the auditor's office.

• Chandler acknowledged there's "room for improvement" but said many issues are already being addressed or have recently improved.
• That includes better tracking of expenses, data monitoring and access to property storage, he said.

What's next: An audit of Johnston's marquee homelessness initiative — the All In Mile High program to shelter thousands of unhoused people — is underway, O'Brien said.

The bottom line: Nearly two years into Johnston's tenure, no one — not even his office — has a full picture of what Denver is spending to address homelessness.