High Plains Housing Development Corp. aims to help Greeley’s chronically homeless with permanent housing

The project is called StarRise – it’s the first phase of the North Weld Village concept, set to be a 58-unit Permanent Supportive Housing project located at 123 9th Ave. *Courtesy photo.*

Jodi Hartmann believes her project will help end chronic homelessness in Weld County.

Hartmann is the executive director of the High Plains Housing Development Corp., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-to-moderate income folks through affordable housing development strategies.

The project is called StarRise – it’s the first phase of the North Weld Village concept, set to be a 58-unit Permanent Supportive Housing project located at 123 9th Ave. Dennis Hoshiko donated the 6.5-acre industrial property once occupied by the North Weld Produce Company.

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The project aims to provide long-term, stable housing along with comprehensive support services to folks experiencing chronic homelessness in Weld County.

“This is the open door to permanent housing for every person that walks through the door, whether they stay here for the rest of their life, or they are helped to move to some different housing,” Hartmann said.

Supportive services, such as mental health services, life skills training, crisis intervention, medication management, housing assistance, case management, education support, and social and recreational activities will be available on-site.

High Plains aims to provide long-term, stable housing along with comprehensive support services to folks experiencing chronic homelessness in Weld County. *Courtesy photo.*

Tenants sign a lease and pay 30 percent of their income – which may come from vouchers from the state – and can stay in the one-bedroom apartments for as long as they qualify. That may be until folks get the help they need, get a job or reunite with family and move on.

That may mean they stay for the rest of their lives – especially if someone is experiencing a permanent physical or mental health condition, such as a traumatic brain injury, that would make living outside of StarRise’s supportive environment difficult, said Lyle SmithGraybeal, chief operating officer at United Way of Weld County. United Way and High Plains are partners in Weld’s Way Home, a shared effort to end homelessness.

Who would qualify?

The qualifications are fairly simple.

Folks must be considered chronically homeless. To meet the definition of chronically homeless, SmithGraybeal said, people must have been living out of doors for more than a year or have experienced homelessness three times in the last three years.

They also must have a co-occurring condition – such as a behavioral health diagnosis, substance abuse disorder, or chronic medical condition.

Those who meet these requirements will be put on a list and selected to be invited for housing through something called the Coordinated Entry System, a process developed to ensure all people experiencing a housing crisis have fair and equal access, according to the state’s website.

Not everyone who is invited into housing will accept, SmithGraybeal said, but once someone accepts the invitation for housing, the requirements to stay at StarRise include paying rent and being a good neighbor. StarRise does not have strict requirements around drugs and alcohol.

Last year, 156 people using the cold weather shelter met the definition of chronic homelessness and would have qualified, SmithGraybeal said.

Similar to Redtail Ponds in Fort Collins

Hartmann said StarRise is similar to housing projects like Redtail Ponds in Fort Collins. Redtail Ponds, run by Housing Catalyst, opened in 2015 as northern Colorado’s first Permanent Supportive Housing community, according to its website.

It features 60 apartments, a community kitchen, fitness area, computer room, community garden and several other areas for folks to get together.

“It’s intended to be housing for people coming straight off the streets,” Hartmann said.

Redtail Ponds was so successful, Hartmann said, Housing Catalyst also built Mason Place, another 60-unit facility.

There was public pushback at first, Hartmann said, over concern the facility would destroy the businesses in the area – but those fears were not realized.

City efforts

The City of Greeley has been more proactive on homelessness in recent years. In 2020, a group of community stakeholders (think city reps, local nonprofits, etc.) met to discuss homelessness and affordable housing issues.

They toured the Housing Navigation Center and the Cold Weather Shelter in Evans and researched various housing models. They toured the Arroyo Village project in Denver, which opened in 2019. According to the website, the village includes a new shelter as well as 35 low-income permanent units for the homeless and 95 affordable housing units for individuals and families in the workforce.

The city hired Urbanity Advisors, a Denver-based consulting firm, to look into possible shelter and housing alternatives. This meant evaluating existing sources of information, analyzing what’s driving demand, evaluating best practices, project size, and locations, providing opportunities for community engagement, estimating costs and outlining financial feasibility.

It hired Juliana Kitten, a new assistant city manager, to lead the city’s homelessness and housing initiatives. She brings to the role 20 years of experience working in areas of mental health, homelessness, community development, and medical center operations.

The report released by Urbanity Advisors in 2022 on homelessness in Greeley and Weld County found that one of the biggest challenges to addressing homelessness was the absence of county-level participation – or interest in tackling the issue. According to Urbanity’s report, homelessness is often seen as Greeley’s problem to solve.

Greeley Mayor John Gates has said in recent city council meetings that Weld County commissioners still won’t come to the table on homelessness.

The city has moved to support projects like StarRise.

Cost and funding

StarRise is a $27 million project.

So far, High Plains has raised $25 million between funding from the federal funding, state funding, the City of Greeley, Weld Trust, Greeley Urban Renewal Authority’s Community Development Block Grant Programs, land donations, and more.

“It is an expensive proposition up front,” Hartmann said.

But after the big one-time cost, Hartmann said, the project is self-sustaining thanks to funding from the state.

As it stands, High Plains is facing a $2 million gap. It kicked off a capital campaign to raise the cash in November. The campaign is set to run through February 2024.

Notably, Weld County has not contributed any funding to the project.

“We did give commissioners an opportunity to contribute to this financing stack, and they declined,” Hartmann said.

Assuming High Plains raises the $2 million, High Plains plans to start construction in June 2024 and wrap up September 2025. If all goes according to plan, StarRise apartments will open January 2026.

Later phases of the project will usher in 90 more units of mixed, low-income affordable units.

“I’ve been working in this space since about 2005,” Hartmann said. “And you know, it’s been a kind of slow, slogging for years and years, but I think I’ve started to see progress accelerate.”

For more

For more information on StarRise or to participate in the capital campaign, go to https://highplainshousingdev.org/.