HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 2/6/2024 - Memorandum From Brittany Depew Re: Quarterly Homelessness Update – Q4 2023Social Sustainability Department
222 Laporte Avenue
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
970-221-6595
bdepew@fcgov.com
CC: Executive Sponsors: Rupa Venkatesh, Assistant City Manager & Jeff Swoboda, Chief of Police
Beth Yonce, Social Sustainability Department Director; Meaghan Overton, Housing Manager
MEMORANDUM
Date: January 31, 2024
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer
From: Brittany Depew, Lead Homelessness Specialist
Subject: Quarterly Homelessness Update – Q4 2023
BOTTOM LINE
Addressing homelessness in Fort Collins is a collaborative, multi-sector effort that involves
dedicated, cross-departmental staff and funding resources from the City, the Northern Colorado
Continuum of Care, nonprofit organizations, and community members to make homelessness
rare, brief, and nonrecurring. Ongoing efforts address both short-term, targeted response and
long-term, systemic approaches.
SHORT-TERM, TARGETED RESPONSE
Staff and Partner Collaborative Response
• Homelessness Tactical Team
o The Tactical Team has continued to coordinate and collaborate on complex
situations to ensure people experiencing homelessness are supported and
connected to appropriate resources while maintaining an accessible, healthy,
and safe community for all.
o This group aims to increase consistency in response and process, enhance
information-sharing across internal departments and with external partners,
prioritize people-centered connection opportunities (resources, outreach, co-
response) ahead of enforcement, and collaboratively brainstorm possible
solutions to new and recurring concerns.
o Current and ongoing projects include monthly community hot breakfast events for
people experiencing homelessness, clarification and policy updates on private
property cleanups, rapid response to urgent and emergency concerns, and
weekly site cleanups.
• Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement (HOPE) Team
o During Q4 the HOPE team supported 616 site cleanups, towed 4 RVs,
completed 21 bike recoveries, and collected 868 sharps from sites/camps.
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o The team attended and facilitated several community outreach events including
serving Thanksgiving dinner at the Fort Collins Rescue Mission, assisting with
the Salvation Army gift wrapping and pick up, presenting to the Chamber of
Commerce, facilitating a trust-building event with the Mental Health Team at both
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) complexes, and several ride-alongs with
city partners to include a Resource Navigator with Homeward Alliance.
o Case highlight: An individual who was chronically homeless had multiple police
contacts and declining physical health. Each time he was contacted by the HOPE
team, Outreach Fort Collins would be called to assist with his needs and
continuously update his unsheltered status in the CAHPS (coordinated housing
entry) system. A letter was written on this individual’s behalf to advocate for him
to be housed at a PSH complex. In November 2023, he was permanently housed
and has had zero police contacts!
o Data from the HOPE team’s collaboration with Outreach Fort Collins is included
below under “Outreach Fort Collins.”
Site Cleanups & Camping Enforcement – 2023 Review
• Beginning in January 2023, a pilot project launched to conduct cleanups once per week,
due to previous challenges posed by a less frequent, more sporadic cleanup schedule
(such as having to re-tag sites and not being able to keep the number of active camps at
a manageable level).
• In 2023, 1,148 sites were cleaned, including 1,027 cleared with assistance from a
contracted cleaning crew, and the remainder completed by Natural Areas staff or other
groups (including occupants at active camps).
• Of the sites that were cleaned, there were 2,444 sharps collected, 1,365 total person
hours, 785 cubic yards of waste (approximately 4,956 bags), 140 cubic yards of metal
recycling, and 311 shopping carts.
• There are currently 50 sites awaiting cleanup.
• To date, the average cost is $5,975 per cleanup day, which generally includes around 20
individual sites.
• Approximately $298k has been spent from the site cleanup budget.
• Ongoing conversations are happening regarding inoperable RVs and the
towing/dismantling process.
Emergency Weather Shelter Plan
• Throughout the winter, the Emergency Weather Shelter Plan (EWSP) is activated when
any one of the following weather conditions are met:
o The National Weather Service forecasts a severe winter storm warning.
o The National Weather Service forecasts a severe windchill advisory.
o The National Weather Service forecasts overnight temperatures at or below zero
degrees Fahrenheit.
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• Upon activation, City staff coordinates with shelter and outreach partners to ensure no
one is turned away from shelter due to space constraints in dangerous weather
conditions.
• So far in the 2023-2024 winter season, the EWSP has been activated for 7 nights:
January 11-15 and January 18-19. There were no activations in Q4 2023.
• A group will be meeting in Q1 to discuss current weather activation criteria and whether
any changes should be made. If the temperature criteria for cold weather is adjusted (for
reference, City and County of Denver activates at 20 degrees or below), additional
resources would be required to fund an increased number of activations each year.
Seasonal Overflow Shelter
• Fort Collins Rescue Mission will continue operation of the emergency overflow shelter at
117 N. Mason for men experiencing homelessness through April, in addition to their
primary location at Linden & Jefferson (see partner updates below).
• While last year’s shelter had a capacity for 44 men, this year there is a maximum
capacity of 70.
• This shelter is overnight-only and is open from 5:00pm– 8:00am each day.
• The Rescue Mission has two staff members present during all hours of operation, with
assistance from Precision Security during both check-in and check-out.
• Since the shelter opened on November 1, there have been an average of 54 men per
night.
• Between November 1-December 31, this overflow site provided an additional 3,270
nights of shelter.
• Seasonal and overnight shelter work creates staffing challenges for the Rescue Mission.
Since opening November 1, they have seen more than 100% turnover for seasonal
overnight staff. They have had to re-hire all six positions a total of eight times.
LONG-TERM, SYSTEMIC APPROACHES
Prevention & Supportive Services
• Homeward Alliance
o The Murphy Center is open Monday-Friday from 8:30-11:30am for indoor day
shelter and appointments, and from 11:30am-5:00pm for outdoor shelter and
indoor appointments. Core services they offer include showers, laundry, mail,
and computer access.
o Broke ground on medical clinic at the Murphy Center, funded by $1 million ARPA
grant from Larimer County. The clinic will be operated by SummitStone Health
Partners (physical and behavioral healthcare) and will begin operations in Q1
2024.
o Diverted/reunified 131 individuals in 2023 – either helping people avoid
homelessness or reuniting with family members/friends in permanent housing.
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Among people diverted/reunified since the start of 2022, 84% remained housed
after six months.
o Helped 79 families avoid homelessness and 40 families escape homelessness
(via rent/security deposit assistance) in 2023. Also served 742 families at
quarterly resource fairs and at HWA’s Family Resource Connection site – a
clothing and hygiene closet accessible to families and other agencies, and
staffed with Bilingual Family Housing Navigators who provide on-site resource
navigation.
• Outreach Fort Collins
o Q4 saw a slight decrease in client activity compared to Q3 2023. OFC staff
engaged with 476 unduplicated clients, offering immediate needs education and
resources 661 times, and completing 101 agency referrals.
o In Q4, OFC received 222 incoming calls for community concerns, which is a 15%
decrease from the previous quarter.
o Collaboration with HOPE team:
This collaborative partnership continues to result in more first-time OFC
contacts.
OFC received 50 unique client referrals from the HOPE team in Q4,
bringing the total to 110 client referrals in 2023.
Of the 50 new referrals, 38% were clients previously unknown by OFC
and 62% were first-time clients.
In Q4, OFC had a total of 272 contacts with clients referred by HOPE,
including offering immediate needs education and resources 125 times
and completing 17 agency referrals.
o Catholic Charities
Emergency Shelter:
• Initiated a lottery for single women – takes place at 4pm and 8pm.
• Launch of lottery caused a decrease in census, so no women
have been turned away since it began.
• Family waitlist reduced to zero, although family rooms are typically
full.
• Cold temperature stay-in policy is upheld when the high of the day
is forecast to be 30 degrees or below.
Extended Stay Program
• New social case worker started.
• Interest in the program continues as a waitlist for single women is
maintained
• Plans to expand some capacity for single women program
(assigned) beds.
• Demand for the program outpaces the Case Management Team’s
caseload abilities.
• Funding allocation for these types of programs has decreased.
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o Fort Collins Rescue Mission
There were 460 men turned away in October (before the overflow shelter
opened), 0 in November, and 0 in December.
In October, there were a total of 202 unique guests served, 261 in
November, and 270 in December.
o Future 24/7 Shelter Facility
Fort Collins Rescue Mission submitted their development review proposal
in early November.
Rescue Mission leadership is working to schedule a meeting with Hickory
Village leadership to continue discussing concerns and opportunities for
collaboration, has met with neighbors directly north of the property, and is
reaching out to other nearby businesses.
Council hearing for the Bohemian Foundation land swap is scheduled for
Tuesday, February 20.
Funding
• 2023
o A total of $955,000 in ARPA funds were allocated to seven agencies via 11
contracts.
o The ARPA contracts include program support to the Northern Colorado
Continuum of Care, Catholic Charities, Crossroads Safehouse, Family Housing
Network, Fort Collins Rescue Mission, Homeward Alliance, and Outreach Fort
Collins for resource navigation, 24/7 shelter operations, street outreach, the
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and other general
operations.
o Additionally, $100,000 in general funds were allocated to Outreach Fort Collins
for ongoing operations in their service area.
• 2024
o For 2024, the final year of homelessness initiatives being funded via ARPA
recovery dollars, there will be $500k allocated after a competitive grant process:
$250k will be contracted for Resource Navigation services at Disabled
Resource Services, Catholic Charities, Homeward Alliance, Neighbor to
Neighbor, Outreach Fort Collins, and the Matthews House.
$250k will be contracted for 24/7 shelter operations at Catholic Charities,
Crossroads Safehouse, and Fort Collins Rescue Mission.
o An additional $455k is being directly contracted with three agencies for
programmatic and operational expenses: Homeward Alliance, Northern Colorado
Continuum of Care, and Outreach Fort Collins.
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Strategic Planning
• Homeward Alliance is leading efforts to create a county-wide homelessness strategic
plan, with partnership agencies and municipalities from across Larimer County. The
planning team developed a Request for Proposals to hire a consulting firm to lead the
strategic planning process.
• The RFP will be launched by Larimer County in February 2024, and the estimated time
to onboarding a consultant is about 3 months.
Evaluation, Metrics, and Reporting
• Point in Time Count
o The 2024 PIT count is being led by the Northern Colorado Continuum of Care
(NoCO CoC) and was conducted on the night of January 30. The data and final
report are anticipated to be available by Q2.
• All ARPA-funded programs are required to report into the Homeless Management
Information System (HMIS) and share quarterly reports outlining the impact of these
funds.
• Quarterly, HMIS data is shared with the City to demonstrate impacts of funding and
services, track the current number of program utilizers, and help analyze community
trends.
• In total, 135 people experiencing chronic homelessness were housed in 2023, and the
overall rate of people experiencing chronic homelessness declined by 16%.
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