Denver mayor opens emergency shelter unilaterally after political battle with City Council members

DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston opened one of the city’s largest cold-weather shelters Friday morning without City Council approval, ending multiple days of public uncertainty about whether the facility would be available as life-threatening temperatures settled over the city.

The Aspen shelter at 4040 Quebec Street, a former DoubleTree hotel, opened with more than 200 beds on what forecasters predict will be one of the coldest weekends of the year. The mayor’s office had suggested as recently as Thursday that it was working with the City Council to reach an agreement.

“There’s been some back and forth, I guess, between Council as to getting the site online. We’re working with it right now in good faith,” Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said Thursday.

But the mayor’s office possessed the authority to open the shelter independently all along, which is ultimately what happened Friday morning.

“The mayor has the authority to run the city,” City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said. “He doesn’t need the blessing of Council. In fact, oftentimes he doesn’t wait for the blessing of Council and uses his executive power when he wants to get things done, when counsel says no. We saw that in the Flock conversation. So when it comes to role responsibilities, he could have done so.”

The political dispute ramped up last month when the Denver City Council voted down an agreement that would have operated the Quebec Street site as a cold-weather shelter. Lewis, who represents District 8 where the shelter is located, said Johnston promised her more than a year ago that the city would not use the site for emergency cold weather sheltering this winter.

“We’ve known that since 2023,” Lewis said. “The agreement that the mayor and I had regarding the cold weather sheltering and 4440 Quebec is that we wouldn’t have cold weather sheltering there.”

Lewis said her district already hosts numerous shelters, creating a concentration of services in one area. She voted against the contract last month based on the mayor’s previous commitment.

The mayor’s office said after the contract was voted down, it did not have sufficient time to secure Council approval for an alternative location.

“We wanted to do this with Council and felt it incredibly important to have their involvement and buy-in here,” Ewing said in a statement. “I will also dispute that a month is enough time to get a shelter through a full Council process and online.”

Lewis disagreed with that timeline assessment.

“Every year winter comes, and so the mayor and his administration had ample time to plan for this emergency,” she said. “The emergency didn’t start on Wednesday or yesterday. The exploitation of that emergency did.”

Despite the political friction, Lewis acknowledged the mayor made the right decision given current conditions.

“I don’t want folks freezing in our streets, and so I think that the mayor has the authority to be able to make sure that folks don’t die on our streets, and that’s exactly what he did, and that’s how he should lead,” Lewis said.

The mayor’s office said the shelter will only operate this season and will focus on serving people already experiencing homelessness in northeast Denver. The city examined four other potential sites before activating this location, according to the statement.

“With life-threatening cold settling over the city and people at risk of suffering serious injury or death, Mayor Johnston informed Council this morning that we will be opening the ballrooms at 4040 Quebec for temporary emergency cold weather shelter,” the statement said.

The city already had a signed and Council-approved service agreement with the provider, allowing the site to open for short-term emergencies without additional approval.

Ewing said Thursday the decision comes down to one factor.

“This is literally a matter of life and death.”