Denver Officials Beg Landlords to House Migrants as Shelters Overflow

Officials in Denver, Colorado, are begging local landlords to take in illegal migrants as the sanctuary city’s shelters are being overwhelmed with all the “newcomers.”

Mayor Mike Johnston’s (D) office announced that four of the city’s seven migrant hotel shelters will be shut down by early April in a February 28 announcement, saying that people staying in those facilities would be “relocated.”

At the time, the city did not specify where exactly those unhoused migrants would be moving.

Now Denver Human Services is asking private property owners to deal with the overflow. 

​​”We put out a feeler to all the landlords we have connections with,” department representative Jon Ewing told Fox 31. “Basically said, listen, we’re going to have some newcomers who are going to need housing.”

“We’ve got kind of a rent cap — $2,000,” Ewing added.

The Human Services employee also said the city has, so far, been able to grant work permits to 1,300 illegal migrants.

“That’s a huge step,” he remarked.

The move to direct migrants from city-run shelters to rental properties comes after Mayor Johnston lambasted Senate Republicans for shooting down a bill that would have provided $5 billion to support the migrant overflow in cities across the U.S.

“I’m here to talk a little bit about the devastating impact of the failure of Republican leadership in Congress this week to pass regime change, and the impact that will have on both city budgets and on services that we can provide for newcomers in the city,” he complained at a February 9 press conference.

Johnston, who has already been granted aid for 35,000 illegal migrants, added that Denver citizens will have to “plan for shared sacrifice” as the city makes “budget reductions” to help migrants “that we know will continue to arrive.”

The continuous wave of migrants pouring into the city has not only stretched the capacity of its shelters but its healthcare system, as well. 

Approximately 8,000 illegal immigrants had a total of 20,000 visits to Denver Health in 2023, Fox News reports.

As Denver’s migrant problem spills over into the surrounding areas, the small town of Monument’s council recently voted unanimously to formally confirm its non-sanctuary status, Breitbart News reported.

“The goal is to make sure that Denver knows that we will not be accepting any busloads of migrants into our community,” said Mayor Mitch LaKind. “The main reason is that we don’t have a budget that matches theirs, and we won’t utilize taxpayer funds for the support of what they’ve decided to take on themselves as a self-declared sanctuary city.”

The Monument vote took place soon after Johnston announced on a January NBC Meet the Press Now appearance that Denver will “hit a capacity at which we just won’t be able anymore to manage the amount of inflow,” so migrants might be turned away.