[BoulderCouncilHotline] Changes to programs for the homeless

[Firnhaber, Kurt]

Dear Council,

With the ever evolving needs of the community related to the COVID-19 virus we have had to make continuous adjustments to our services and approaches for the needs of people experiencing homelessness.  Through daily operational calls with our service providers we  ensure that our programs and overnight shelters are safe for the individuals using the services as well as the staff that are providing this important work.  The collaboration and willingness of our partners to make adjustments has been critical.  As we make these adjustments, we are looking through a lens of public health and safety.  With the opening of the COVID -19 Recovery Center (CRC) a week ago we are looking at ways to increase the effectiveness and safety of these multiple programs.  As a result, we will be making the following changes, most of which will be implemented today.


  1.  The CRC will be available to pick up individuals who are symptomatic to COVID-19 24 from 6:00am to 10pm daily, on top of the current schedule of daily screening at the four shelters, which occurs between 5:30pm and 8:30pm.  Emergency pick-ups between 10pm and 6:00am will also be available, based on staff/volunteer capacity at the time. The daily screening pick-ups will continue, however, additional staff/volunteer capacity has been added to ensure individuals receive the support they need and to ensure increased safety to the public and those staying at the shelter facilities.  The CRC will be working closely with the four shelters, Boulder Community Health, Clinica and other health facilities to manage these pick-ups for the effectiveness of the individuals experiencing symptoms.
  2.  The Severe Weather Shelter facility on 30th Street in Boulder will be open every day from April 1st, 10:00am to 2:00pm, for facility access that will include hand washing, bathroom facilities and limited  shower availability.  Bridge House will also be conducting an additional thorough cleaning each day in order to support this service.
  3.  To better align the transportation services that were implemented on March 20th to move overflow clients from 30th Street to Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, the hours for the two organizations has been aligned.  Bridge House will be communicating to all sheltering clients using SWS that check-in will be closed at 9:00pm each evening.  This will allow any overflow of clients at SWS to be effectively transported to BSH and ensure the system bed capacity is more fully utilized.
  4.  To address the concern of sheltering generally during this public health emergency, SWS shelter will be open every night through the end of April.

The operational teams running the CRC and those collaborating on shelter and housing first approaches for homeless individuals will continue the daily assessment of activities that address community safety. These teams would also like to thank the community members that have volunteered to support this important work.  Additionally, while the above changes are related to individuals experiencing homelessness I would urge the community to also provide financial assistance to the Community Foundation that is supporting a wide range of needs within our community.


Kurt Firnhaber
Director of Housing and Human Services
[https://bouldercolorado.gov/links/fetch/41501]
O: # 303-441-4424
C: # 303-917-0914
FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov>

Department of Housing & Human Services
1300 Canyon Blvd  Boulder, CO 80302

Bouldercolorado.gov<https://www.bouldercolorado.gov/>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://webappsprod.bouldercolorado.gov/mailing-lists/mailman-archive/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20200327/a8185904/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 15389 bytes
Desc: image001.png
Url : https://webappsprod.bouldercolorado.gov/mailing-lists/mailman-archive/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20200327/a8185904/attachment.png