[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: RE: Questions regarding funding homeless facilities/organization

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Rahn, Karen

Lisa,

Below please see the answers to your questions. Let us know if we can provide any additional information. 

1. During 2016, the City will provide Boulder Shelter for the Homeless (BSH) with $165K in operating expenses and Bridge House with $94K in operating expenses.

Other government funding for these two organizations includes:

BSH: $200K from Boulder County, $30-50K from the City of Longmont, $250K in federal funds 

Bridge House: $50K from Boulder County, $114K from the State of Colorado

2. From Oct. 1-April 30, BSH is open for emergency winter shelter (100 beds) and transitional shelter (60 beds), for a total of 160 beds. From May 1-Sept. 30, BSH is only open for transitional shelter and for the last two summers has added an additional 30 beds to their year-round 60 beds, for a total of 90 beds.

BSH is open for morning hours (breakfast, showers, access to laundry, mail, phone messages) from 6:00-8:00 AM seven days per week. On Monday, Thursday and Friday, they are open for the Resource Center from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM. During the remainder of daytime hours BSH is closed.

BSH reports that during the winter months, the shelter is full almost every night and turns away clients due to capacity on about 70% of nights.  

3. The leadership of Bridge House, Boulder Shelter for the Homeless and Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow (BOHO) have been working together closely since forming the Boulder Homeless Services Collaborative (BHSC) in 2014. They are partnering in facilitating better coordinated access to services, which has resulted in a 142% increase in Resource Center usage the first half of 2016, including a 138% increase in clients participating in substance use/mental health groups and a 90% increase in people applying for housing. The City and County have also recently entered into an agreement with BHSC for collection of integrated data among the three agencies, which will further identifying client outcomes and utilization. 

Karen Rahn
Director, Human Services Department
O: 303-441-3161 | M: 720-289-1745
RahnK at BoulderColorado.gov

Human Services
909 Arapahoe | Boulder, CO 80304
BoulderColorado.gov/Human-Services

-----Original Message-----
From: Morzel, Lisa
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2016 7:24 AM
To: Rahn, Karen <RahnK at bouldercolorado.gov>; Council <Council at bouldercolorado.gov>; HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: Questions regarding funding homeless facilities/organization

Good morning,

in anticipation of this evening's tour, i pose the following questions:

1. The city and county fund operating expenses at the Boulder Homeless Shelter.  Currently, how much 2016 public funding does the Shelter receive? Does the City & County also fund Bridge House 2016 operating expenses -and if so, how much?

2. The Shelter currently is open for emergency beds from mid-October thru mid-April and has transitional beds in the summer. How many emergency beds and transitional beds are available for what periods of time? Additionally, is it still the case that the Shelter is not open during daytime hours (except for Resource Center pilot hours twice a weak). During the period when the Shelter is open, I 've heard that the Shelter is at roughly 90% evening occupancy--is that correct?  Why is the Shelter not currently filling the beds? Shouldn't the community utilize the Shelter 100% of the time, basically 8,760 hours a year before we invest in tiny homes?

3. The Bridge House Ready to Work House and Community Table Kitchen are well run and well managed facilities. Can we figure out how better to utilize the Bridge House  leadership for solutions and help those in need of these services identify pathways to come off the streets?

Thanks

Lisa

Lisa Morzel
Member, Boulder City Council

303-938-8520 h
303-815-6723 c