Jumping in the bathtub was the first thing on Anthony Jones’ mind when city officials moved him from a homeless encampment to temporary hotel housing.

“I am going directly to the tub,” Jones said on Thursday, as he boarded a bus from the 18th Avenue and Marion Street homeless encampment, where he’s been living in for almost two months.

The bus was on its way to a DoubleTree hotel.

“I am not touching the bed, just straight to the tub,” Jones said. “It’s surreal.”

Denver officials expect to move Jones, along with 63 other homeless people, to temporary housing on Thursday. Officials estimated that more than 300 homeless people moved to temporary shelters this week following three encampment sweeps, which took place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Mayor Mike Johnston vowed to get 1,000 homeless out of the city’s streets by year’s end. As of Thursday, his administration is just shy of 400 from reaching that goal.

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City workers, particularly from Denver’s Department of Housing Stability, helped homeless people collect belongings into bags and onto a bus that would bring them to temporary shelters. 

Jones described the feeling of being moved out of the street as “positively, comfortably atmospheric.”

“It’s been a lot of work,” a mayor’s office spokesperson told The Denver Gazette at the Marion Street encampment on Thursday. “To make sure that we got to a spot to a place like today, where we have a system in place to go into especially for the holidays … (and) take a shower”

The mayor’s office earlier estimated that more 800 homeless people total since Johnston took office in July would be housed by Friday. 

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“People who I know are in there are happy with their situation,” Kelsang Virya, a Buddhist nun who has been helping homeless people at encampment closures, told The Denver Gazette. Virya was referring to the hotels where the homeless people have ended up in.

“Right now, they talk about taking a shower, eating and sleeping for a week and getting on a road to a better life,” Virya said.

Johnston’s office told The Denver Gazette the city provides on-site treatment at all housing facilities for mental health and drug-abuse, notably for less-intensive cases.

Out of the first 600 people that transitioned into temporary shelters, one left for intensive treatment.

Denver plans to close four more encampments next week.

“I’m more worried about what’s going to happen in January,” Virya said. “I don’t know how many people will remain in housing after 90 days.”