The Denver City Council is asking for money for the Basic Income Project and rental assistance

The Denver City Council has requested more than $29 million in changes to Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed 2025 budget, laying out a list of priorities that would require major juggling in what is expected to be a tight fiscal year.

Council members sent a letter to the mayor’s office Friday with their list of proposed changes. It lists 22 motions approved by a majority of council members for Johnston to submit its $1.76 billion general fund spending plan for next year before it goes before the council for approval next month.

Some of the biggest changes demanded by the council will be familiar to anyone who followed the tug-of-war between the council and Johnston over his 2024 budget a year ago.

Council members want Johnston to increase his commitment to an eviction prevention assistance program by $5 million.

“In response to Denver’s historic eviction crisis, this funding addresses the needs of over 36,000 people at risk of homelessness,” said the letter, signed by Council President Amanda Sandoval and Prot. President Diana Romero Campbell. “Although this amount does not equal the $34.1 million required to maintain the Temporary Resource and Utility Assistance (TRUA) program at inflation-adjusted levels, it is a critical step in stabilizing residents in their homes, when new housing units are developed.”

Johnston’s first draft of the 2025 budget includes $20 million for the TRUA program, with some of it coming from emergency funds expected to remain at the end of this year. Johnston also plans to spend another $2 million on legal defense for people already involved in the eviction process.

But the City Council’s demand for more funding is leading to a fight that could mirror what played out in the city budget process last fall. Johnston budgeted just $12.6 million for the TRUA program in his original 2024 budget — but ultimately allocated a total of $29.1 million in a compromise with council members who pushed for the strategic reserves to resort to the city if the mayor could not find the money elsewhere.

This year, a majority of council members also support an amendment that would provide $2.5 million for the Denver Basic Income Project. This program, independent of the city, has provided more than 800 people who are homeless or have recently become homeless with direct cash assistance to spend however they choose. Support varies, but many of these participants receive a total of $12,000 over 12 months.

Mayor Michael Hancock allocated $2 million in federal pandemic recovery funding to the program in 2023. Johnston had not budgeted for support for it in his 2024 spending plan, but ultimately donated an additional $2 million after the council asked him to do so last year.

Now Johnston is stubborn.

He is weighing funding priorities as he tries to fund the housing and homelessness programs he believes are most successful in a city where 6,539 people were living either in shelters or on the streets as of January.

“So when we have scarce resources for things like rental assistance and rapid relocations and rent relief, we try to prioritize the highest return on investment and the highest impact strategies that we know of,” Johnston said in an interview about the Basic Income Project last week. “I think the data is not yet clear about the net impact on this housing strategy.”

A study of the Basic Income Project’s impact in its first year of payments showed a significant increase in the percentage of recipients who remained housed after receiving cash for 10 months compared to when they enrolled. According to voluntary survey results, after 10 months, 45% of enrollees reported being in housing, compared to just 8% at enrollment.

The number of participants completing surveys decreased significantly over the study period. After 631 completed surveys at enrollment, there were only 396 completed after 10 months.

Council referred to these findings in its letter to Johnston and urged him to continue to engage the city in the project as the three-year study period continues.