Compared to other big cities, Denver doesn’t spend a lot to fight homelessness, but a tourism official told the City Council on Friday the Mile High brand pays a heavy price.

Carrie Atiyeh, the director of government and community affairs for Visit Denver, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said that while downtown’s 16th Street Mall is the city’s main tourist destination, visitors’ surveys indicate a perceived safety risk, and panhandling is part of the reason why.

In 2013, downtown safety was cited as a negative perception by 36 percent of respondents. Last year the number grew to 50 percent.

Some tour operators are advising travelers to avoid the mall, Atiyeh said.

“It is something we’re very concerned about in terms of the reputation of our city, the brand of our city, how people talk about our city, frankly,” Atiyeh said.

She said the city is losing conventions and tourists.

City residents are concerned, according to a survey provided to the council by the nonprofit Denver Foundation.

Homelessness in the city was the second-most cited concern, behind rising health care costs. It ranked ahead of schools and jobs on the list of concerns.

Denver, however, lags far behind other cities in providing money to combat the issue.

Denver’s Road Home program gets about $6.7 million a year. That compares with $141 million spent on homelessness issues by the city of Philadelphia, about $72 million by Houston, up to $60 million annually by Portland and about $22 million by Salt Lake City, according to data presented to the council.

More funding, however, got scant mention during the council’s 4½-hour meeting on homelessness Friday.

As he presented the surveys from how other U.S. cities tackle homelessness, Councilman Wayne New concluded, “There’s no question the bottom line is more funding.”

Councilman Albus Brooks noted that Portland has a general fund budget of about $582 million, but finds $60 million for homelessness services, yet Denver has a $1.26 billion general fund and spends just $6.7 million.

He also noted that Gov. John Hickenlooper wants to invest $100 million in building bike trails across the state.

“What is the next big initiative by the state around a regional homeless approach?” Brooks asked.

A major Denver initiative was an urban camping ban the council approved in 2012. There was no discussion Friday of strengthening, amending or repealing it. A 17-page U.S. Justice Department brief in August, however, warned that such bans could be deemed unconstitutional.

The Colorado legislature failed to pass a “right to rest” bill in the last session that also could have eliminated Denver’s ordinance. Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, said he is working with the American Civil Liberties Union on a possible bill for the session that convenes in January.

“They will try to flex their numbers any way they can to make it look like their ordinance is working,” Salazar said Friday of the Denver City Council. “But beyond that, it’s still a civil liberties issue.”

Denver leaders contend they are not criminalizing homelessness, as critics allege. Making an arrest is a last option, Denver Police Deputy Chief David Quinones told the council.

The department has four officers assigned to its Homeless Outreach Team that tries to steer people into services. It has 10 officers on a Neighborhood Impact Team to address crime, quality-of-life issues and “service-resistant individuals.” The city assigns extra officers to its Walking the Beat Program to raise police visibility on the 16th Street Mall.

Nonetheless, arrests under the city’s urban camping ban ordinance are rare, Quinones said.

Of the 2,418 homeless people contacted by police so far this year, only two were arrested or cited for violating the urban camping ban, he said.

Some council members thought the city needed to invest in more outreach workers — 17 in Denver, compared with more than 200 in Philadelphia — and not put that responsibility on police officers.

“We can’t arrest ourselves out of any kind of situation,” said Councilman Paul Lopez. “People are not criminals just because they’re homeless.”

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch