HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 02/11/2025 - Memorandum from Brittany Depew re Quarterly Homelessness Update – Q4Social 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; Vanessa Fenley, Housing Manager
MEMORANDUM
Date: February 5, 2025
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 2024
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 (HTT)
• This rapid response team, consisting of City staff and partner agencies, meets weekly to discuss needs
related to homelessness in our community.
• Ongoing projects include weekly site cleanup coordination; assessing mitigation options for hot spots;
collaborative brainstorming to connect people to shelter, housing and services; and ensuring
consistency in response across departments/agencies.
• The focus of this team in Q4 was collaboration to address ongoing issues in Lee Martinez Park.
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
Homelessness Policy Advisory Team
• The Policy Advisory Team meets monthly, with a focus on policy needs and updates related to
homelessness response.
• The topics addressed by this team since it began in April 2024 have been private property cleanups,
repeat offenses, abandoned property, RVs, trespassing, and the Grants Pass v Johnson Supreme
Court ruling. In Q4, the focus was on year-end use of cleanup funds and priority locations for mitigation
projects.
Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement (HOPE) Team – Police Services
• In 2024, the HOPE Team responded to 3,179 calls for service, issued 893 citations/arrests, recovered
31 stolen bicycles, towed 23 RVs/vehicles, supported 1,451 camp cleanups, and held 161 community
events.
• The HOPE Team was working to address long-term issues with individuals camping under the Gateway
Bridge (west of the Whitewater Park). Officers noticed a significant amount of trash under the bridge,
contaminating the river. HOPE partnered with Natural Areas and Park Rangers to address these
concerns. In November, significant mitigation efforts took place, including utilizing the remaining
cleanup budget to restore the riprap to its original location under the bridge and use concrete grout to
keep it in place. Forestry and private contractors were able to assist in removing the overgrown weeds
and trees on the sides of the bridge to increase visibility. HOPE officers have already noticed the
positive impacts these actions have made.
• HOPE Team & Outreach Fort Collins Collaboration
o 42 unique individuals referred to OFC from HOPE in Q4 (8 previously unknown to OFC).
o OFC had 268 contacts with all previously-referred HOPE clients, including 104 immediate needs
education and resources, and 12 agency referrals.
Site Cleanups
• In Q4, over the course of 7 cleanup days (roughly every other week), 240 sites were cleaned, including
191 cleared with assistance from a contracted cleaning crew, and the remainder completed by Natural
Areas staff, Parks staff, rangers, or other groups (including occupants of active camps volunteering to
assist).
Of the sites that were cleaned, there were 98 sharps collected, 300 total person hours, 118 cubic yards
of waste (approximately 563 bags), 20 cubic yards of metal recycling, and 27 shopping carts.
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
During Q4, the average days to completion for a given site was 17 days.
To date, the average cost per cleanup is $6,269, which generally included around 24 individual sites.
In Q4, approximately $45k was spent on contractor site cleanups. Additionally, roughly $40k was spent
on the Gateway Bridge mitigation project (details under HOPE Team updates above).
After more resourcing was allocated to site cleanups in 2023 (moved to a weekly cleanup cadence),
there was a decrease in sites needing cleanup in 2024 and, consequently, the total cost of cleanups
went down. The cost burden has also been increasingly shared with private property owners and
others, as collaboration and consistency have increased over the past two years.
Extreme Weather Activations
Extreme Cold
• During the colder months, generally November-April, staff checks weather forecasts daily and activates
the Emergency Weather Shelter Plan (EWSP) if any of the following criteria are met:
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Total Sites Cleaned Person Hours Sharps Waste Disposed (cubic
yds)
Annual Cleanup Data
2022 2023 2024
$6,302.00
$5,975.00
$6,269.00
$157,567.00
$298,063.00
$231,983.00
$- $50,000.00 $100,000.00 $150,000.00 $200,000.00 $250,000.00 $300,000.00
2022
2023
2024
Annual Cost of Site Cleanup
Total Cost Avg Cost Per Cleanup
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
o The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts overnight temperatures of zero degrees or below
and/or issues a severe winter storm warning and/or a severe windchill advisory.
• During an activation, shelter providers allow anyone seeking shelter to access services, even those on a
current ban (the City funds additional security, if needed); Transfort also makes every effort to provide a
shuttle between locations if an activation takes place on a day without regular bus service.
• There were no emergency weather activations in Q4. The first activation of the 2024-2025 season took
place the evening of January 7.
Seasonal Overflow Shelter
• After completing the Development Review process in October, Fort Collins Rescue Mission opened an
auxiliary overnight shelter for men on November 4, 2024.
• The shelter is located at the city-owned building at 117 N. Mason, can accommodate up to 70 men per
night, and will remain open through April.
• In November, the auxiliary shelter provided a total of 1,160 nights of shelter with an average of 36 men
per night; in December, it provided 1,164 nights of shelter with a daily average of 40 men.
LONG-TERM, SYSTEMIC APPROACHES
Prevention & Supportive Services
• Nonprofit agencies are assessing their resourcing needs and constraints into 2025 with major shifts in
funding due to ARPA grants ending. Shelters have continued to be near or at capacity for men, women,
and families, and a few programmatic and staffing changes have taken place.
• See nonprofit agencies’ updates in Appendix A
Evaluation, Metrics, and Reporting
• Disruptive Behavior Data & Trends (from Outreach Fort Collins)
o In Q4, had a total of 2,674 community contacts, including engagement with 363 individuals
currently experiencing homelessness, offering immediate needs education and resources 603
times and completing 62 agency referrals.
o Q4 saw decreases in overall contacts, contacts with highest frequency clients, contacts at top 5
geographical hotspots and incoming community calls.
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
• Rates of Homelessness and Exits to Housing for Q4 (from Homeward Alliance, HMIS Lead Agency)
o There were 1,935 homeless individuals with active enrollments (seeking services).
o There were 533 people experiencing chronic (more than one year) homelessness in Fort
Collins.
o 28 people who had been experiencing chronic homelessness exited into permanent housing.
Funding
• For 2024, the final year of homelessness initiatives being funded via ARPA recovery dollars, $500k was
allocated through a competitive grant process:
o $250k contracted for Resource Navigation services at Disabled Resource Services, Catholic
Charities, Homeward Alliance, Neighbor to Neighbor, Outreach Fort Collins, and the Matthews
House.
o $250k contracted for 24/7 shelter operations at Catholic Charities, Crossroads Safehouse, and
Fort Collins Rescue Mission.
• An additional $455k was directly contracted with three agencies for programmatic and operational
expenses: Homeward Alliance, United Way of Weld County (Northern Colorado Continuum of Care),
and Outreach Fort Collins.
• In Q4, 3,044 people were served by these funds across all homelessness programs.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Q1
2023
Q2
2023
Q3
2023
Q4
2023
Q1
2024
Q2
2024
Q3
2024
Q4
2024
Chronic Homelessness + Housing Rates
# Chronic Homeless # Exited to Housing
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
Strategic Planning
• Homeward Alliance has retained two consulting firms (JG Research & Evaluation and OMNI Institute)
to oversee the development of a strategic plan for addressing homelessness in Larimer County. From
October 2024-September 2025, the firms will work with local municipalities, nonprofits, people with lived
experience and other stakeholders to develop the strategic plan. Phase two, implementation, will follow.
• City staff have been involved since the inception of this project, providing support drafting the proposal,
soliciting and reviewing proposals, and selecting the contractor. Staff will be more directly engaged in
the data collection process during stage 2, beginning in March 2025, when elected officials and
government staff will be surveyed.
• The two consulting firms made their first in-person visit to the region from December 9-12, during which
time they conducted interviews and focus groups, held casual meet-and-greets, and met with staff from
the various municipalities and service providers.
• Data collection, surveys to elected officials, virtual interviews, etc. are ongoing, and the firms will return
to the region for another in-person visit in mid-March.
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E
APPENDIX A
Updates submitted by community partners for Q4 (not all agencies provide updates each quarter):
• Catholic Charities
o Emergency shelter for families is at capacity with an additional five families on the waitlist
needing services.
• Crossroads Safehouse
o In collaboration with 20 community partners, Crossroads is working to establish a Family Justice
Center (FJC) in Larimer County.
o The FJC provides a single, safe location where survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault,
trafficking, stalking, and child abuse can access the full spectrum of services needed to achieve
safety and stability.
o Nationally, communities with FJCs have seen a 50% reduction in domestic violence fatalities
and significant increase in survivor access to critical services.
o To pilot this initiative, Crossroads will utilize vacant office space in their building and have
secured federal funding to support some of the initial operations.
o Crossroads would be happy to host a facility tour or arrange a meeting with the Executive
Director, Lori Warren, to discuss its impact on our community. Additionally, more information on
Family Justice Centers can be found on the Family Justice Center Alliance website.
• Outreach Fort Collins
o The Outreach Fort Collins Board of Directors is excited to announce their new Executive
Director, Jonathan LaMare. Jonathan comes to OFC most recently from Aurora, after having
spent over a decade in international humanitarian work in Haiti, Malawi, Uganda and South
Sudan where he earned a reputation for effective leadership and coalition-building in complex
situations.
o January 29 is the annual Point in Time Count. This federally mandated event is a
comprehensive count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a
single night in January. Outreach Fort Collins is serving as the lead agency for Fort Collins’
unsheltered count. To ensure a robust and accurate count, OFC is coordinating with a variety of
community partners, including the Northern Colorado Continuum of Care and several City of
Fort Collins departments, to survey folks in our community.
Docusign Envelope ID: BA4B0553-BC2D-418F-A2A5-27E4F1E7C28E