A nonprofit service provider that manages many of the shelter beds in Mayor Mike Johnston’s homelessness initiative will no longer operate three facilities in former hotels next year.
The Salvation Army’s contracts to run the Aspen, Stone Creek and the Tamarac Family Shelter will end in December, according to a news release Thursday from the organization. Other providers will take over at those shelters, the first two of which are off Quebec Street in northeast Denver. The Tamarac shelter is in a former hotel off Hampden Avenue in southeast Denver.
The Salvation Army said its leaders made the decision “to ensure our financial sustainability,” according to the release. But Jon Ewing, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said the city is set to choose other contractors for two of the shelters. The organization didn’t bid to operate the third shelter, Stone Creek.
“In compliance with procurement rules, we cannot announce 2026 operators until the process concludes in early October. We can confirm, however, that The Salvation Army will not operate (All In Mile High) non-congregate shelters in 2026,” said Julia Marvin, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Housing Stability, in an email Thursday.
The City Council has approved $19 million in payments to the Salvation Army for its services at those three shelters this year.
The Salvation Army will continue to operate the Crossroads Center, the Labuth Family Center, the Connection Center and the Harbor Light Center. Its release says it will cut some of its staffing at the shelters it will no longer operate.
The news of a shakeup in shelter operations comes after months of sharp criticism aimed at the nonprofit over its management of the hotel shelters. Denver City Council members and advocates for homeless people said a string of violent incidents at the shelters showed the group didn’t have the ability to keep the people in its care safe.
In March, a Salvation Army employee was charged with sexually assaulting a woman staying at the Aspen shelter. Last year, the same shelter — part of the expanded network Johnston opened as part of his homelessness initiative since late 2023 — was the site of a double homicide.
And in July, a 7-year-old girl was injured after falling from a window in the Tamarac shelter.
In a rare rejection of a mayor’s office proposal, the council voted down a contract in March to renew the organization’s part in a rapid-rehousing program. A few months later, the council narrowly approved a contract to allow the group to keep operating Crossroads, an emergency shelter, through this year.
Several council members said they were supporting that contract only so that the shelter didn’t immediately close.
When considering bids for shelter contracts, city officials consider past performance, capacity, availability and cost, Ewing said.
The Salvation Army was no longer interested in providing the services because of costs it incurred that weren’t covered by its contract with the city. In 2024, the group had $5.2 million in uncovered costs, said Jenn Forker, a spokeswoman for The Salvation Army.
About 200 Salvation Army employees will be impacted by the change in management. Many of them are likely to be re-hired by the future contractors of the sites, Forker said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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