Mayor John Gates said the city will find the funding needed to support the city’s Homeless Solutions Department following a film screening last week that explored the Housing First model the city recently adopted.
On Thursday, Zoe’s Cafe hosted Don Sawyer and Tim Hashnko, who screened their latest film, “Beyond the Bridge: A solution to homelessness,” to a turnout that Hashnko said was bigger than their previous screening in Denver. The film showcased the effectiveness of the Housing First model in other cities such as Houston, Texas, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The city of Greeley has been working to implement Housing First since 2022.
“Homelessness is absolutely nobody’s fault,” Sawyer said. “It’s not the government’s fault, it’s not the service providers’ fault and it’s certainly not the people with living experiences’ fault. It’s nobody’s fault. Homelessness is the result of a massive systems design failure.”
The Housing First model, which was founded by Sam Tsemberis, who attended Thursday’s event, emphasizes housing as an essential first step to solving homelessness.
The model posits that those experiencing homelessness must have the security of a roof over their head to get back on their feet. In addition to providing housing, the model includes wrap-around services such as case management, counseling, substance use treatment and more.
Greeley’s efforts to enact a Housing First program will take a leap forward with the official opening of the StarRise apartments on Wednesday. Guided by Housing First principles, trauma-informed care and harm reduction, StarRise will offer 58 units for the chronically unhoused in Greeley..
“I’m very pleased to report that Greeley will have its first Housing First permanent supportive housing in about six days,” High Plains Housing Development Coordinator Jodi Hartmann said. “The goal with this housing is to provide exactly what was seen in the film. Housing First, which is the most important step of this process, and then we have this fabulous team from North Range Behavioral Health who will be providing supportive services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on-site.”
Hartmann and Homeless Solutions Director Mandy Shreve emphasized the importance of funding. In August alone, the city of Greeley’s outreach team served 481 people experiencing homelessness. Each year, about 820 people become homeless in Greeley, according to officials.
Of those 820 people, 160 will experience long-term homelessness, and the current homeless response system lacks the capacity to support everyone in need. Shreve said there is a nearly $14 million gap between the resources they have and the resources they need to address homelessness properly — one that could have been aided by the 0.5% sales tax increase that the city council chose not to advance to the ballot due to low polling in July.
“We know how to help those people, and all of us have a part in doing it,” Shreve said. “A sales tax at just 50 cents for every $100 can generate up to $14 million, and that’s about how much we need collectively as a community to take care of those people.”
During a panel discussion after the film, Gates was vocal about his support for helping people overcome homelessness, adding that the city would find the funding to keep needed positions in the Homeless Solutions Department. Gates also encouraged residents to pressure their state representatives and especially their county representatives to become more involved with the issue.
When asked to rationalize his advocacy for addressing homelessness in light of the city council’s passage of the camping ban in June, Gates stood by his support of the ban. He said the ban is working as he had hoped, as there has only been one arrest since its passage.
“In the 3 1/2 months that the camping bans have been in effect, we’ve made one arrest. That’s exactly what I wanted. Zero would’ve been better, but one arrest is fine,” Gates said. “What I said on the dais that I will own to this day is that if we had made a lot of arrests, I would have voted to repeal it.”
The evening concluded with Tsemberis sharing a message of hope, telling the audience that Greeley is ideally situated to solve homelessness if everyone works together.
“This city is really the best aspects of America in terms of the range of people, housing opportunities and the smallness and manageability of the problem,” Tsemberis said. “All of that gives me hope. I think that the solutions are in your hands, and it just requires a united effort with everyone pulling in the same direction. What has happened in Greeley over the last four to five years has really given me hope for the rest of the cities in America.”
Originally Published:
