The Denver City Council approved five resolutions Monday night extending contracts and increasing funding for The Salvation Army by a total of $3.1 million to support the city’s homeless efforts.

Although councilmembers voted unanimously on the resolutions as part of a larger block vote, their growing weariness of the cost and concerns about the  efforts to shelter the homeless are becoming evident.

In late November, Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien released an audit report that revealed the city’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST), which oversees many of Denver’s homeless shelter operations, lacked financial oversight and effective monitoring systems to ensure shelter providers remained in compliance with contracts.

Auditors found that HOST, despite spending millions of dollars on shelter facilities and services, did not specifically track such expenditures during the audit period.

District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis has been concerned about the city’s continued “lack of a long-term plan” for the shelters, many of which are located in her district.

For more than a year, Lewis has tried to engage The Salvation Army regarding the shelters, asking the Salvation Army to survey guests about what resources and services they need. 

In March 2024, Lewis told The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, that “it’s (surveys and communications) never happened, making it hard to know how best to help people get permanent housing and jobs in the district she represents.”

“The Salvation Army has not been responsive and has not been a good partner not only to get that survey in but also to get volunteers in,” Lewis told 9News.

Lewis again emphasized on Monday night that The Salvation Army “has not been a good partner” in District 8, stating that staff members have been treated unkindly, and phone calls have not been returned.

“I just think this is a really good time for us to have a discussion so that we don’t have large contracts such as these, where the provider feels as though they should not have to answer the questions of a council member or pick up the phone calls of a council member, or they can decide which council members that they are responsive to or not because they understand that we don’t have a large pool of service providers to pull from,” Lewis said.

Lewis added: “I do think it’s time for us, as a body, to have a larger conversation about how we might be able to expand the number of service providers that we have, and maybe, even bring in smaller ones. Right now, the relationship is a bit lopsided, and we are less in control of our accountability and success metrics. Our service providers are really driving that conversation, and I think it should be the other way around.”

Denver City Council President Amanda Sandoval called Salvation Army Denver Metro Social Services Director Kristen Baluyot to the podium and asked her to “go on record so that all of us could hear what your commitment from the Salvation Army will be to working with Councilwoman Lewis and her staff.”

Baluyot said she would be available to meet with Lewis as often as needed.

The Denver Gazette reached out to Baluyot for further comment but was referred to Jennifer Forker, communications and marketing director for The Salvation Army’s Intermountain Division.

“The Salvation Army is committed to ensuring the safety of those in our care,” said a statement forwarded by Forker to The Denver Gazette. “TSA conducts wellness checks if we have reason to be concerned about a resident’s health or safety.”

The statement added: “The city of Denver maintains each building in which The Salvation Army shelters people experiencing homelessness. When a concern arises, TSA directs the concern to the city and the city responds. Our office remains committed to working with Councilmember Shontel Lewis. We are available to have open and honest dialogue and address her concerns in a time.”

Forker’s forwarded statement said that TSA shares its monthly report at the meetings, where feedback and questions are solicited.

“We hope to maintain this open communication with the committee and Councilmember Lewis’ staff,” the statement said. “The city of Denver’s Department of Housing and Stability (HOST) has access to all our sheltering data and it is our understanding that City Council members are able to work with HOST to obtain the numbers.” 

“It’s unsettling to hear that a council office is not being met with,” Sandoval said.

“We need to have a strategic discussion on whether some of these large contracts are creating a too-big-to-fail situation in which all of our funds are being contracted to certain service providers and not providing the training and support for others,” District 9 Councilmember Darrell Watson said.

In April of 2024, The Salvation Army came under fire for its failure to implement a security system at the former DoubleTree hotel at 4040 N. Quebec St. in northeast Denver, one of five hotels converted to city-operated shelters.

More than $800,000 was allocated for the project, but after three people were shot, two fatally, the city had to step in and provide its own security, including metal detectors, a badging system and increased security presence. 

In June, the City Council learned that the Johnston administration was on track to spend $155 million between July 2023 and December 2024 on the homeless— $65 million more than what he had previously promised.