Homeless in Boulder: City Programs

“We do have a number of permanent supportive housing available for the homeless that work quite well . . . They really just need to be expanded.”-Kurt Firnhaber, Deputy Director of Housing for the City of Boulder.

In the third part of this series, Julia Caulfield talks to city officials about how the city is trying to address the homelessness issue. While the city is trying to make sure there is affordable housing, the demand still outweighs the supply.

“We need to weigh the people that are already members of the community . . . versus those who are just passing through.”-Jenny Paddock, City of Boulder Police Department Homeless Outreach Team.

The homeless community in Boulder is not static. There is always a changing number of homeless in the area. Most of the plans for Boulder are focusing on those homeless that are already part of the community or working towards becoming permanent residents.

“Just putting a roof over somebody’s head isn’t going to address the underlying issues of why they became homeless in the first place.”-Jenny Paddock.

The city has created a new Homelessness Working Group to continue working on the issue and figure out other ways to address the homeless issue. The focus looks at providing affordable housing, helping with employment and education, and physical and mental health services.

This is part three in a series of stories by Julia Caulfield about the homeless community in Boulder. This series looks at this problem from the perspective of the shelters, park rangers, city, and homeless.

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