Tribe Recovery Homes, a Denver-based drug addiction treatment and sober living provider, has closed its residential program in Boulder, citing a recent loss in federal funding. It becomes the latest nonprofit in the city to shut down amid funding challenges.
The organization ran an 11-bed residential program on Pearl Street where people recovering from drug addiction could stay for a month or more. Residents had access to peer support and treatment, including therapy and medication to curb cravings.
The home was a core part of the city and county’s strategy to address methamphetamine addiction and substance use, particularly among homeless and formerly incarcerated people. Its closure follows the shutdown of Boulder’s only homeless youth shelter and a residential treatment home for young people.
The City of Boulder plans to bring in a new operator to provide similar services at the Pearl Street site, but that transition will take at least two months, according to Kurt Firnhaber, the city’s director of Housing and Human Services.
“We’re in a difficult environment right now with state and federal funding challenges,” Firnhaber told Boulder Reporting Lab. “The city isn’t able to and doesn’t have the resources to backstop some of the challenges.”
Tribe first opened the Boulder facility in 2023 with a $900,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant, leasing the building from the city essentially free of charge. The program was overseen by both the city and county. But when start-up federal funding ended, both the city and county declined to provide ongoing funding.
The county has since transferred oversight of the site to the city, which will continue leasing the property to the next vendor for $1 per year, according to Firnhaber. Instead of receiving grant funding, the future operator would be expected to bill Medicaid and other insurance providers for services.
The city recently issued a request for proposals to select another provider to operate a similar program out of the same building.
Thomas Hernandez, the founder of Tribe, said one reason the organization chose not to apply to be the next operator was partially because the city wants to place a greater emphasis on serving homeless people, while Tribe primarily serves formerly incarcerated people.
“We weren’t aligning in mission statements,” he told Boulder Reporting Lab.
Hernandez said the organization ran out of its federal grant in April and expected more challenges securing federal funding under the Trump administration.
“It’s rough when you lose funding,” he said. “You have all your staff paid for, and then you’ve got to pick up that bill.”
He said the organization had been scaling back operations ahead of the closure. Two people still living at the facility were moved to Tribe’s homes in Denver, and the group plans to continue outreach work in Boulder.
The city’s request for proposals closed Sept. 19, with a new operator expected to be selected by early October.
If there were only two people living at the center that needed to be transferred, does it not make more economic sense to use the grant money to place them in a rehab place already in existence? Also, if there are homeless families with children that need shelter, perhaps this will be the ideal place to house them and give them priority?
So you’re saying people struggling with addiction, which in 2024 had 80,000 plus deaths, should be put on the back burner. When they have a disease and need help to rehabilitate their lives, those people should be put on a lower pedestal then anyone else? And when you help guide addicts to a life of sobriety it also decreases the crime rate, so all that should be over looked and Boulder County should over ride treatment and the saving of lives for another form of saving lives? No, the real question that should be asked is, why isn’t the government finding ways to fund organizations that help both these problems in boulder. Makes you wonder what boulder is really spending their funds on. I know one thing they used millions on, which was to clean up bike paths and parks of homeless/addicts, yet, they didn’t fund anything to relocate or help these people struggling. That to me is ridiculous! They could’ve used that money to fund Tribe and the youth homeless centers but decided not to.
Aaron, I made a very simple statement that if there were only two people that had to be relocated the funds could have been more efficiently used to provide them with a place that already exists to help them. Do not twist a simple statement into whatever you want to say. I also do believe in helping families with children. That is my opinion, you are entitled to yours but you are not entitled to twist what I meant.
Sonia, this location was previously a homeless shelter for pregnant women / mothers with infants. I believe they relocated to have more space.
Thanks Tamii! Good to know. I was not aware.
The city’s plan is to wait until the formerly incarcerated people are homeless then help? I’m glad the city is trying to provide more services to their homeless population, but starting help before a person is homeless seems to fit that.
The city is – and was – so broke that they had to go with a provider whose mission was not aligned with what HHS needed simply because that provider was able to get Dept. of Justice grant. Is that what happened here? Now the city and county are still unwilling and unable to provide any grant funding going forward for a new provider, and instead force them to rely totally on Medicaid reimbursement. But many people are losing Medicaid and good luck applying for it if you don’t already have it. The plan at the time this first Tribe program started was to ramp up to three of these residential programs, yet here we are.