The nonprofit Boulder Shelter for the Homeless is seeking to increase its hours of operation up to 24 hours per day on weekdays starting as soon as this winter.
The proposed change is part of a broader effort by the City of Boulder to create a day services center, a centralized location where homeless people can access services and get help finding housing.
The nonprofit’s 160-bed shelter in North Boulder, the city’s largest, is currently closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except under certain weather conditions. This leaves homeless people with few places to stay warm during the day.
City officials requested that the Boulder shelter host the day services center after a local developer this summer pulled out of a plan to create one at 1844 Folsom Street.
The shelter has since proposed changing its management plan to stay open all day. City officials have also agreed to pay the shelter at least $1.4 million to operate the day services center. It’s now awaiting final approvals.
The city wants to provide a range of services at the shelter, including respite care for people recovering from injuries, community court to address camping and other municipal tickets, and services for those with a drug addiction or mental illness. The shelter already has a commercial kitchen, lockers, showers, laundry and office space for service providers.
The shelter’s current hours can be disruptive for tenants, particularly those who rely on the one free morning and evening bus between the shelter and downtown.
Matthew, 51, said people come downtown to use the Boulder Public Library or get lunch in Central Park, where local organizations sometimes provide free meals. He said if the morning bus is full, people have to walk the approximate four miles downtown. He said getting back to the shelter can be uncertain.
“If you don’t make that bus at night to get up to the shelter, then you’re walking,” he said. “And hopefully you get there by 7 p.m. to get in. If not, you’re out on the street.”
It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit and misting rain when Bethany, 40, was waiting for the bus back to the shelter Tuesday evening.
“On days like this, we’re sitting here getting sick because of the cold,” she said. “If people are sick, they can’t even sleep in.”
Shawn Breaux, 34, said he has been sleeping at the shelter and traveling to the library to apply for jobs during the day. He said it would be easier to get a job if he didn’t have to leave the shelter at 8 a.m. every morning and return by 7 p.m.
“There’s no employer in Boulder — or anywhere for that matter — that’s going to reasonably work within those confines,” Breaux said. “We’re not going to be able to find any kind of reasonable employment that actually gets us out of homelessness.”
To expand its hours of operation, the shelter needs approval from the Planning and Development Services Department. Under city code, it must also host a “good neighbor” meeting with nearby residents and businesses. Historically, such meetings with neighbors have resulted in scaling back plans to expand homeless services, according to media reports.
Kurt Firnhaber, the director of Housing and Human Services, said he was excited plans are moving forward with creating a day services center. He was confident the shelter would receive its necessary approvals.
“It is a gap that is going to be filled,” Firnhaber told Boulder Reporting Lab.
Rising homelessness and shelter capacity issues
In January 2022, city councilmembers made creating a day services center one of their two-year priorities. The goal was to create a low-barrier place where people could access basic services and receive help in securing housing. This includes enrolling in public benefits, obtaining identification and finding peer support services.
“I hope that this is able to live up to what everyone was expecting in terms of providing a place for people to be — where they want to be during the day and where it is a low-barrier and a safe place for people to be,” Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Speer told Boulder Reporting Lab.
Homelessness in Boulder County has been rising in recent years, according to a recent point-in-time survey. Partially in response to the rise in unsheltered homelessness, a group of residents this year helped pass a ballot measure that seeks to prioritize the removal of tents and propane tanks near schools, sidewalks and multi-use paths.
The plan to expand the shelter’s hours of operation comes as dozens of people have been turned away at the door since October due to limited capacity, according to city data. The proposed management plan for the shelter seeks to raise the overnight capacity to 180 people, a cap that is still unlikely to satisfy demand for a bed.
Mike Block, the executive director for the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, said some people will not sleep at the shelter for one reason or another. Block said providing day services could have a broader impact, particularly for people not currently staying at the shelter.
“In a landscape of limited resources, every decision is difficult and every decision has to be strategic,” Block told Boulder Reporting Lab. “There’s data showing that two-thirds of the chronically homeless don’t regularly use shelters. So how are we meeting their needs? How are we engaging with them? And how are we leveraging those relationships we have in order to try and get them what they do want, which is housing?”
Anyone who seeks to use the shelter will have to complete a “coordinated entry” questionnaire, which shelter staff use to determine what sorts of housing services to provide. This could include reconnecting someone with family members or getting them a housing voucher.
According to the proposed management plan, the shelter will be able to serve up to 180 people at any given time. However, the shelter may impose entry and exit limits “in order to promote effective, safe use and delivery of services.” Alcohol and illegal drugs would be prohibited.
A city spokesperson said the day center services would open five days per week. The proposed management states the shelter will be open up to 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
City officials said the budget for the day services center includes additional funding to operate an additional free bus to the shelter from the city’s downtown and provide people with free bus tickets.
The city and the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless are planning to host a meeting with neighboring residents and businesses in January. The city is also gathering feedback from residents online.
City officials said they hope the day services center will be operating as soon as February.
Clarification: This story was update on Dec. 13 to clarify that the proposed management plan states the shelter will be open up to 24 hours per day, seven days per week, but not necessarily 24/7. A city spokesperson said the day services would be provide five days per week.
So what?
The majority of folks living outside in Boulder don’t use Boulder Shelter by night nor by day! During my decade as a homeless camper, I only used their facility to shower every morning at 6AM, until they stopped providing any services at all to the homeless (April, 2018) who weren’t interested in their programs. Fact: I might just as easily have showered at North Boulder Rec Center on the way downtown.
Homeless people would like stable housing — which doesn’t include either emergency shelters or so-called transitional apartments. The relatively new concept of Tiny Houses is perfect; these provide privacy, security, and dignity for residents. Sadly, the Boulder homeless shelter/services industry is adamantly opposed to anything that offers greater independence than can be found in questionable programs (which recycle the same clients over and over). Despite claims to the contrary, homeless “programs” in Boulder and other cities are expensive failures!
I now reside in long-term care, and thus no longer have a dog in the hunt, but I hope to see the day come when Tiny Houses are the model for ending homelessness.
Tiny
I don’t see an address for the Shelter
4869 Broadway
4869 Broadway@ LeeHill Rd., Bob.
Sounds like a great idea! I always wondered why the shelter wasn’t open during the day (24/7 every day of the year). It might decrease some of the issues people have with finding some place to spend the day! It makes sense to do this rather than having people travel to separate buildings to get the help they need!