With Denver poised to close four immigrant shelters this month, officials this week put out a request to landlords registered with the city for vacant rental properties to accommodate those who have exhausted their vouchers.

City officials on Tuesday sent a letter to about 14,000 landlords to inquire with whether they have vacant rental properties for less than $2,000 a month, said Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson.

“We’re simply trying to connect folks with housing that is within their price range,” Ewing said in an email to The Denver Gazette.

Denver Human Services has been managing the humanitarian response to the crisis since the city lifted its emergency declarations under former Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration.

Participation for landlords is optional, Ewing said.

About 100 landlords within three days notified officials of their vacancies. Ewing said they expect to see that number rise.

Ewing did not know how many rentals will be needed.

But when announcing the shelter closures last week, Mayor Mike Johnston said 300 immigrants could be adversely impacted.

To accommodate immigrants who arrived after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, Denver has instituted length-of-stay limits.

City officials are helping immigrants transition into more permanent housing to minimize those forced to live on the street.

The closures are expected to slash the city’s projected $180 million spending on the humanitarian crisis by $60 million, which means that, if Johnston’s estimate is correct, Denver will spend $120 million this year to feed, house and transport the immigrants. 

The closures began earlier this week starting with a shelter in Aurora that has driven a wedge between the two cities.

Denver began winding down its shelter operations in Aurora two months ago after a rift emerged when the hotel booted long-term residents to make room for immigrants.

One the day of its closure, the Aurora shelter had just six immigrant residents, Ewing said. Area nonprofits have arranged apartments for the immigrants.

As of noon Friday, Denver has received 39,215 immigrants over the past 14 months.

Denver officials decided early in the crisis that the city would assume the responsibility to temporarily house, feed and transport arriving immigrants.

That decision has cost $59 million and counting.

Despite state and federal grants, Denver taxpayers have assumed the bulk of these costs.

At the height of the latest wave of new arrivals in January, when Denver was sheltering nearly 5,000 immigrants, Johnston projected the costs this year could reach up to $180 million and directed city departments to make cuts of up to 15%.

Last month, Johnston announced $5 million in service cuts to the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Parks & Recreation, with more belt tightening expected.

While Denver has not — historically — been a gateway city for immigrants like Chicago and New York City, Colorado’s most populous city has experienced an unprecedented wave of immigrants who illegally crossed at the southern U.S. border.

The illegal immigration crisis unfolding at the border with Mexico, unlike the previous waves, has spilled into America’s interior.

Lawmakers in these cities, including Denver, have been confronted with the challenge of caring for immigrants and figuring out to pay for costs, even as they grapple with their own domestic crises, notably homelessness and an acute housing shortage.

State and city officials had estimated that seven in 10 immigrants did not intend to stay, but tickets for onward travel suggest that only about half have left Denver for other locations.

Earlier speculation assumed that immigrants were drawn to Denver because of its transportation hub and status as a “sanctuary city.” Generally, sanctuary city refers to a designation given to municipalities and counties with policies that discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

Officials in El Paso, Texas, however, point to — although well intended, they said — Denver’s promise of free shelter and onward travel.

“There’s a pull factor created by this, and the policies in Denver for paying for onward destinations,” Irene Gutiérrez, executive director of El Paso County Community Services in west Texas, has said.