Homelessness: Five-year plan has some success stories

In 2004, Colorado Springs instituted a five-year plan to house every homeless person in the city.

That didn't happen.

But advocates for the homeless say the plan still produced a number of success stories - including the rehabilitation of about 125 chronic homeless people - and paved the way for a sequel: a 10-year plan that will, among other things, beef up services and introduce a system to better track assistance that the homeless receive.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the new plan at an informal meeting this month and take up the proposal for a vote in February, said Bob Holmes, executive director of Homeward Pikes Peak, a local coordinating agency for homeless services.

The aim is to get more of the homeless into permanent residences and help them become productive, tax-paying citizens, Holmes said.

Colorado Springs is one of 350 cities in the nation to follow the Department of Housing and Urban Development's request to enact such a blueprint.

Holmes said that if nothing else, the five-year plan accomplished a key goal of coordinating services.

"The main reason for the (five-year) plan was to give providers direction so they could be rowing the same way," Holmes said. "Before, we had gaps and overlaps."

But there were other successes as well. The plan, Holmes said:

• · Removed 125 chronic homeless people from the streets through programs that helped them become self-sufficient, saving what city officials estimate was about $5 million for services to manage their problems.
• · Led to the creation of a clearinghouse hot line for people in need of housing, food, rent and utilities payments, transportation, child care and other basics. The emergency referral hot line, accessed by dialing 2-1-1, is a program of United Way of the Pikes Peak Region and fielded more than 22,000 calls last year.
• · Resulted in the formation of a mental health collaborative, as well as a program that provides housing to the homeless before gauging whether they're interested in overcoming substance abuse.

The plan also brought about $11 million to Colorado Springs through federal grants and other resources, said Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The new plan will bring to fruition some ideas that have been in the works for years, and initially will focus on providing medical services, housing, food, access to services, assistance for military veterans, emergency services and help with re-entering society after incarceration.

To hold the homeless accountable for the services they receive and encourage them to work toward self-sufficiency, a voluntary identification card system will debut early this year. The Salvation Army's New Hope Center, the Marian House Soup Kitchen, Ecumenical Social Ministries and Springs Rescue Mission will be the first to use it.

The system is not meant to deny anyone services but to help agencies learn the names and stories of the people they're serving and better fulfill their needs in becoming self-sufficient, said Maryann Stadjuhar, director of the Marian House's emergency and transition services.

After two weeks of using local services without a card, clients will be asked to apply for an identification card and be set up with a case manager, but "nobody will be turned away if they don't have a card," Stadjuhar said.

Catholic Charities also will open a self-sufficiency center in February, featuring more structured and integrated programs for the homeless.

The center is designed to address housing, employment, medical services, education, life skills, mental health services, transportation and child care services.

"We've identified eight areas that keep people trapped in poverty and will work to solve those," said Jason Christensen, executive director of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs.

Another program scheduled to start this month will provide an alternative to handing money to panhandlers. Spearheaded by City Councilman Jerry Heimlicher, the program calls for the placement of whimsically decorated parking meters at 80 local businesses, mainly in downtown, Old Colorado City and South Nevada Avenue - prime locations for panhandlers, he said. Donations will be funneled to Homeward Pikes Peak, which will distribute it to local agencies that help the homeless.

Innovation is part of the equation in resolving homelessness, said Mangano, of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, during a visit to Colorado Springs in November. Cities that have reduced their homeless populations by 20 percent to 30 percent, such as Norfolk, Va., St. Louis and Portland, Ore., have the commitment of civic leaders and frame their plans around business principles and practices, he said.

About $5 billion is earmarked in the federal government's 2009 budget "to stop and prevent the human tragedy that is homelessness," he said.


Contact the writer: 636-0235 or debbie.kelley@gazette.com