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The homeless problem in Boulder County is broad, complex and immune to simple solutions, a panel of local experts said Thursday night. Still, there is no better time than now to try some bold moves to get help to the unhoused, they said.
Cities and counties could direct COVID-19 relief funds that have been allocated to them to rebuild systems that deal with the homeless, said Melissa Green, executive director of Bridge House, which prepares the unhoused for jobs.
The funds have to be spent by 2024 and could be funneled to nonprofit groups dealing with people now living on the streets, Green said. “We could build an amazing new system that would be impactful,” she said.
One avenue is to develop a “one stop” shop for people seeking to get off the streets, Green said.
Now people have to get help from different agencies and locations which take up precious time and energy, Green said.
The facility could be where the homeless “could see a doctor, store their belongings, get shoes if they need them, see someone about housing options, '' Green said. “They need a single place they can go to for help.”
Green also blasted the notion that the homeless are lazy. On the contrary, she said, "They are working every second of the day so much harder than we are on our most taxing day. "They are always thinking 'Am I safe here? Am I going to have food tonight?"
Shanan Collins, COO of Mother House in Boulder County, said collaboration between agencies is key to getting help to the homeless. “We need all of us to come together to solve all these cracks in the system,” Collins said. Mother House provides a secure space for women, transgender, nonbinary people and their children.
Collins said she often hears that the homeless should "just get a job." The unhoused, however, often carry all their possessions on their backs and that they struggle to find a place to take a shower, sleep, get the proper clothes for a job interview and get bus fare to get to the interview.
Collins and Green spoke at the courtyard of the Longmont Museum along with Alice Sueltenfuss, executive director of Longmont’s HOPE and Tim Rakow, executive director of The Inn Between in Longmont.
The event —called “The Face of Homelessness —was put on to gather information about barriers facing the homeless in Boulder County and possible solutions.
The four agreed the homeless are in a state of trauma but still have to navigate different governmental and nonprofit systems for help. In many cases, the unhoused will not be able to get into the system to get help for up to six months, Collins said.
Many need access to mental health programs while facing a daunting affordable housing shortage.
Rakow said years ago homes cost about two-to-three times the amount of someone’s personal income. “Now it’s 10 times of someone’s personal income.” People should also shelve their preconceived notion of who is homeless and treat them with compassion. "If we lead and start with dignity, respect and understanding...then we can look at the next step of how we solve these things." Rakow said.
In the meantime, people from all ages are becoming homeless, the panelists said. Some seeking help from HOPE have worked all their lives and for a myriad of reasons, find themselves without a permanent roof over their heads, Sueltenfuss said.
“I see 78, 80-year-olds without a place to live,” she said. “It makes my heart sad.”
The panelists also said people should also stop blaming the homeless for not being able to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
“No one can pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” Collins said. “Everyone here has had help to become successful in whatever we have chosen to pursue. No one is an island.”
