A push to shift millions of dollars away from the Denver Police Department to pay for homeless families’ shelter failed on Monday night, when councilmembers waded through more than two dozen amendments.

The council voted against a pair of amendments, sponsored independently by Councilmember Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and At-large Councilmember Sarah Parady, both of which proposed a one-time budget reallocation of $9 million from the police department to Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) to pay for the needs of approximately 240 homeless families.

The two amendments would have taken funding from DPD’s recruiting program, as well as from its service and supply budget line.

When asked how HOST might use the additional cash infusion, Executive Director Jamie Rife struggled to find an answer.

“I think it would be hard to tell,” Rife said. “Admittedly, I just got this amendment about an hour and a half ago, so knowing exactly what I would do with this money is a little bit challenging – I think I what I am deeply concerned about is, as much as we want to address family homelessness, and it is an issue, I am concerned about how it affects the part the department from which is being taken.”

Other questions centered on whether HOST could find a location to set up a new family congregate shelter and whether it could rally additional service providers to operate them.

Other councilmembers questioned whether the proposed $9 million budget allocation is sufficient to actually meet the needs of homeless families.

“I’m concerned about the amount,” remarked Councilmember Diana Romero Campbell. “I’m not sure that $9 million is the right amount – maybe it’s $20 million that we need – but I’m not sure that $9 million is going to get us to the goal that we want to achieve.”

Earlier this year, Johnston said general fund allocations for the city’s homelessness initiatives will remain flat, with HOST absorbing $33 million in reductions across multiple funds.

In September, the mayor announced that the city would close the Comfort Inn, one of the city’s larger homeless shelters, and cease funding for the Monroe Village tiny home micro-community, converting it to workforce housing.

Citing a decrease in the number of people living on the streets, officials said the decision marks the next phase of the mayor’s efforts to end homelessness and will redirect city resources toward treatment and permanent solutions, including long-term housing.

These changes, city officials said, will save the city $11 million in 2026.

Although fewer people were sleeping on the streets in Denver, the total number of homeless individuals in the city grew, according to a recent report. This year, a total of 7,327 people were counted as homeless — a number that grew by 788 over 2024, according to the annual point-in-time count released by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said that cuts to his recruiting budget could put the public at risk.

“Removing any class of recruits would have a staggering impact on public safety,” the police chief said, adding that the number of officers the city has on the street is directly tied to police response times.

Thomas added his department needs at least two academies per year to be fully staffed.

If the police agency has only one class of 56 recruits in 2026, that would add close to two minutes to the department’s response time for priority calls, he said.

Several councilmembers said that the short timeframe allotted for reviewing the proposed changes, as well as other amendments, was frustrating.

District 5 Councilmember Amanda Sawyer opposed the amendments.

“I have heard from the residents of District 5, and they do not want the police department defunded, and so I’m going to be a no on all of these that are pulling money from the police department,” she told the council.

While the mayor’s proposed spending plan will not result in a reduction in the number of uniformed personnel, public safety agencies have already absorbed $27 million through vacancy savings and the elimination of one fire academy class, as the Denver Fire Department is currently at full staffing.

The councilmembers continued to consider additional budget amendments late into the evening on Monday.

Johnston will have until noon on Nov. 7 to accept or veto amendments.

The council may override any mayoral vetoes during its Nov. 10 meeting with a supermajority of nine votes.

A budget must be approved at the Nov. 10 meeting. If a budget is not approved at this meeting, the mayor’s proposed budget, including any council amendments that were not vetoed or whose vetoes were overridden, would be adopted.