“I think our approach here in Aurora is different, a work-first approach. Other council members questioned whether the city would be better off spending its $10 million somewhere else.Ĭouncilmember Curtis Gardner - a conservative who joined progressives Alison Coombs and Ruben Medina in voting against the purchase - suggested Denver’s investment in facilities to house homeless residents had fueled the phenomenon of unsheltered homelessness instead of fighting it. SENTINEL SCREEN GRABĬoffman wrote in his email that consolidating homelessness services into a single campus was “far more cost-effective” than the alternative. A city news release published last week said that land will instead “be used for other city services.” Aurora City Council members discuss an expansion of city homelessness offerings in 2022, creating a center with additional kinds of housing. The mayor originally envisioned building the campus from scratch, which prompted pushback from progressives who argued it would be more efficient to invest in properties distributed throughout the city.Īt one point, city staffers considered constructing the campus on city-owned land near East 32nd Avenue and Chambers Road. He said Aurora may have one nonprofit handle the overall operations of the facility as well as programs such as transitional housing for people who are working full-time and substance abuse treatment, while a subordinate nonprofit runs the campus’ congregate day shelter, which wouldn’t require homeless people to have jobs or participate in other services. That means keeping the doors open will depend on finding a charity or charities willing and able to invest a still-unknown amount of money in the campus each year.Ĭoffman wrote in an email Sunday that the city was “close” to finding a nonprofit operator for the campus. In response to the question of what would incentivize a nonprofit to take over, he said the operator “will be able to make an immense impact in the lives of people experiencing homelessness in the region.”Ĭoffman’s strategy for dealing with the phenomenon of homeless encampments that the conservative majority of Aurora’s City Council codified in 2022 dictates that the city won’t spend general fund dollars to operate or maintain the campus. PHOTO BY MILO GLADSTEIN FOR THE SENTINELĬity spokesperson Michael Brannen wrote in an email that the city asked for proposals last summer and is whittling down submissions with the help of county representatives and the Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative.īrannen said the city has yet to determine how much it will cost to run the campus. 23, 2024 - is about to become Aurora’s “homeless navigation campus” at 15500 E. While the city says the navigation campus could open as early as next year, Aurora has yet to find one or more nonprofit groups willing to run the facility. The money to buy the hotel and convert it into a campus capable of sheltering and providing assistance to the city’s several hundred homeless residents will come in the form of $15.4 million from Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs, $10.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds controlled by the city, and $8.3 million, $5 million and $1.1 million in pandemic funding from Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties respectively. The rest of the approximately $40 million investment - including money controlled by the city, overlapping counties and the state - will be used to renovate the hotel. Among other spaces, Crowne Plaza features a convention center that could be used for group sheltering as well as an industrial kitchen and laundry.īesides hosting shelter beds, a kitchen staff and case managers, the campus is also slated to offer a medical clinic, behavioral health and addiction counseling, transitional housing and housing navigation, employment and workforce development services.Īurora negotiated a purchase price capped at $26.5 million for the 13-acre property, which it plans to close on in May. The 255-room hotel stands next to other hotels and businesses serving Denver’s International Airport. “If we are truly compassionate, we want to help those who are experiencing homelessness to be productive, to be able to overcome substance abuse disorders, to get mental health help and eventually to transition into working and being a productive member of society.” A small homeless encampment under Interstate 225 and Colfax Avenue is pictured during Aurora’s annual Point-in-Time Count on Jan. “This, in my opinion, seems to be a good solution,” Councilmember Francoise Bergan said. But Aurora City Council members who inked the deal Monday said the hotel was a pre-built answer to the question of how the city would fulfill the goal included in Coffman’s plan of bringing together under one roof all of the services people need to exit homelessness. Situated on the far side of Interstate 70, if the Crowne Plaza hotel were any farther north, it would be in Denver.
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