All In Mile High cost millions more than reported and lacks proper planning

the Auditor at your service

Timothy M. O’Brien, CPA, Auditor of Denver

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I recently completed an audit of All In Mile High, and what I found is deeply concerning. The program, which provides homelessness services and evolved from House1000 after the mayor declared a state of emergency on unsheltered homelessness in 2023, was not adequately planned to meet its goals.

My team discovered that the city underreported program expenses by an estimated $20.1 million. Without centralized expense tracking and formal guidance explaining what counts as an expense, individual agencies make their own determinations of what counts as an expense. In a 2025 City Council presentation, the Mayor’s Office reported total costs from July 2023 to June 2025 at $158 million.

But when my team analyzed Workday, the city’s system of record, we found $178.1 million was spent in the same timeframe. The Mayor’s Office refused us access to House1000 expense-tracking spreadsheets, citing them as “deliberative planning documents,” and claimed the $20.1 million discrepancy was unintentional. Without formal processes to track expenses, the city cannot know if its efforts are cost-effective.

All In Mile High cost millions more than reported and lacks proper planning

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The city’s online dashboard mixes data from all homelessness programs, not just All In Mile High. There is no clear definition of “permanent housing,” and individuals who return to unsheltered homelessness remain counted as housed in the dashboard. If the data isn’t clear or is potentially misleading, the public cannot understand All In Mile High’s true impact on unsheltered homelessness.

Staff told us they felt set up to fail. For example, in 2023, the mayor’s goal was to move 1,000 people indoors by the end of the year, but staff said the goal surpassed bed capacity. The city could not ensure it had adequate resources for achieving the goals or that they were “doable” and sustainable.

All In Mile High cost millions more than reported and lacks proper planning

Shelter sites are unevenly distributed across Denver. Only five of 11 council districts have shelters, and four of nine shelters are in District 8. The city did not consider equity factors like income, race, and ethnicity. Another concern was related to their competitive procurement processes. The city procured the $9.28 million contract with The Salvation Army without a competitive selection process and did not keep documentation to support this decision, violating city’s rules on document retention.

Housing thousands of people is a noble goal, but my audit’s findings are concerning. I will follow up to verify whether the Mayor’s Office implements the seven recommendations they committed to from the twelve we issued, designed to improve planning, transparency, and accountability.