City of Greeley to apply for $1.5 million grant to get the ball rolling on homeless shelter open 365 days per year
By Kelly Ragan
The City of Greeley will apply for a $1.5 million grant for the acquisition and development of a homeless shelter open 365 days out of the year.
The move comes after a 5-1 vote, with councilmember Ed Clark being the lone no.
At a recent city council meeting, Assistant City Manager Julianna Kitten said this would only be a small piece of the funding needed for the project, and it’s possible – if awarded – the grant dollars could be reassigned to a different purpose.
“There’s no way we would go into that kind of endeavor without much more input both within the city structures as well as the community because, you know, let’s be honest, that’s a very very hot button item and many people have very legitimate concerns and considerations,” Kitten said.
Even if plans change, Kitten said, she and other city officials did not want to let $1.5 million, which could be used to alleviate homelessness in Greeley, slip away.
Where would the money come from?
In September 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated nearly $1.5 million to the City of Greeley as part of the American Rescue Plan. To get the money, the city has to apply for it by March 31, hence the city council vote.
What’s the money for?
The grant money is earmarked for specific people and uses. It must be used to help people experiencing homelessness, people at risk of homelessness, people fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking, or people at high risk for housing instability.
The specific uses laid out in the grant include funding purchasing and developing a non-congregate shelter, acquisition, rehabilitation or construction of affordable rental housing, supportive services to qualifying people, as well as administration and planning expenses.
What the city’s done lately
Since 2022, the city has ramped up efforts to address homelessness in Greeley.
During the first quarter of 2022, the city worked with Urbanity Advisors to conduct research on best practices and existing models to address homelessness and affordable housing. It also brought on Kitten, a new assistant city manager with expertise on housing and homelessness.
Since then, the city hosted listening sessions with folks in the community and met with various agencies and organizations including Catholic Charities, Mosaic Church, City of Greeley Economic Health and Housing, United Way of Weld County, Greeley Fire Department, North Range Behavioral Health, Sunrise Community Health, Jobs of Hope, Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity, A Woman’s Place, The Veterans Resource Center and more.
The city conducted a survey in 2023 that was sent to all the agencies and organizations it had consulted with to determine areas of need that were most important. The survey was also published on the Speak Up Greeley engagement page, according to the city.
The city reported receiving about 125 responses to the survey, which identified two needs as most important:
An emergency shelter open 365 days per week
More affordable housing
Concerns about the plan
At the city council meeting, councilmember Johnny Olson mentioned concerns over the long-term plan for a shelter open 365 days out of the year.
“There’s an expectation if we get this (grant funding) and we continue down the path,” Olson said.
Ben Snow, director of the Department of Economic Health and Housing, said the city is not required to match the grant funding.
Kitten acknowledged that $1.5 million wouldn’t, on its own, be enough to fund a non-congregate shelter open 365 days.
“Certainly, there’d have to be much more work done in terms of the full funding strategy is this is the way the community ultimately wanted to go in,” Kitten said.
Councilmember Tommy Butler asked if in the short-term the emergency shelter would be kept open with the grant funding or if it would close, as expected, on April 15.
“That’s shutting down April 15 – these dollars wouldn’t come into play for quite a period of time,” Kitten said.
What does homelessness look like in Greeley?
According to the 2022 point-in-time survey count, sheltered and unsheltered homelessness looks like this in the northern Colorado area:
Greeley
Sheltered: 153
Unsheltered: 83
Total: 236
Loveland:
Sheltered: 70
Unsheltered: 116
Total: 186
Fort Collins
Sheltered: 284
Unsheltered: 84
Total: 368
Of the people experiencing homelessness in Greeley, 62 people qualified as chronically homeless.
According to the grant application, the city only has emergency shelter options between the months of November and April when the emergency cold weather shelter operates – and it doesn’t have enough beds to meet the needs.
The application noted that during the point-in-time count, 82 people were unsheltered even while the emergency shelter was 89% full, so if any of the unsheltered folks wanted to stay at the shelter, only 10 beds would have been available.
Beyond that, the application claimed that very few resources were devoted to intensive, on-going case-management once a person had been housed. In fact, is only one person in the community who provides those services, according to the application – leaving much of the work to Greeley police and fire departments.
“Greeley has such limited services at every level for people experiencing homelessness, we could have picked any activity, but we choose this based on the data and the community’s voice, as well as the fact that an emergency shelter can save people’s live and without doing this, people experiencing homelessness lives are at greater risk without this,” according to the grant application.