Mile High United Way(Denver’s Road Home)

GOALS

The homelessness problem is urgent and must be addressed aggressively now. Over ten years, Denver’s Road Home will meet the following eight goals:

1. Permanent and Transitional Housing—Develop 3,193 permanent and transitional housing opportunities.
2. Shelter—Make safe and legal shelter beds and activities for all populations both day and night until adequate permanent housing is in place.
3. Prevention—Provide Denver residents facing homelessness more tools to keep them from ending up on the streets or in emergency shelters.
4. Services—Provide better access to supportive services that promote long-term stability and improved functioning.
5. Public and Safety Outreach—Improve public safety by increasing homeless outreach efforts to reduce panhandling, loitering and crimes.
6. Education, Training and Employment—Assist 580 people who are homeless to obtain skills and knowledge necessary to participate in the workforce.
7. Community Awareness & Coordinated Responses—Build community awareness and support for coordinated responses to eliminate homelessness.
8. Zoning, Urban Design & Land Use—Reform Denver’s zoning, building and development codes to facilitate an adequate supply of emergency and affordable housing.

Current State – Year 7

Seven years into our 10-year plan to End Homelessness, Denver’s Road Home has made great progress through the help of this community.  We are indeed on track to ending homelessness as we know it but there is much more work to be done.  In many ways, this plan has exceeded our goals, objectives and outcomes.  Seven years later, we are better at counting the homeless, targeting our services and maximizing impact of the funds that we allocate via our partnerships with the homeless providers in Denver.  We are more focused than ever on sustainability and regional development and are looking at where we want to be in the next three years, by resetting our bench marks based on the progress of the seven years.  We are often asked about how the economy has impacted our initiative.  There could never be a more important time to have a plan — to ensure that every man, woman and child has a safe alternative to living life on the streets. In the face of new challenges, Denver’s Road Home remains committed to its mission and to the community that it serves.

In seven years:
Housing
Added 2,653 new housing opportunities for the homeless.

Ending Chronic Homelessness
In 2005, using a three year average, we estimated that we needed to create 942 units of housing for the chronically homeless.
In the first seven years, 956 units of housing for the chronically homeless have been developed surpassing the original goal set when we began the plan.

Outreach
Since 2007, our Denver Street Outreach Collaboration has housed 1,992 men, women and youth through their street outreach efforts.

Prevention
We prevented more than 5,871 families and individuals from becoming homeless through eviction assistance.  We have also mentored 1,058 families and seniors out of homelessness through our partnership with the faith community. Overall, 96% of clients served remained in permanent housing one year later.

Employment
The Denver’s Road Home Employment Sub Committee has generated 6,612 employment and training opportunites for those experiencing homelessness.