Petition on the Future of the Boulder Community Hospital

Some Boulder housing activists are calling on the city to consider using the site of the Boulder Community Hospital at Balsam and Broadway as housing for the homeless.

The city purchased the 8.8 acre campus in 2015 and currently leases the building to the hospital, which still operates some services at the site.

Darren O’Connor of Boulder Rights Watch says that the current facility offers an opportunity to provide housing for the homeless community, particularly homeless families.

“Anytime there’s a resource sitting unused, it’s a space that can be applied to lessening the painful and frustrating experience of being homeless in Boulder.”

The Boulder Rights Watch will submit a petition to City Council on Tuesday July 18th that reads:

“We the undersigned encourage Boulder City Council to utilize the former Boulder Community Hospital site at Broadway and Balsam to house our homeless neighbors as part of a comprehensive program that includes appropriate services. We believe it is the best use of a resource that now sits largely empty while well over 1,000 homeless community members must search for a place to sleep each night, roughly half families with children.”

There are currently over 300 homeless students in the Boulder Valley School District. O’Connor says that accommodation for homeless families is really lacking in the community and the hospital space could help fill that gap.

“Boulder City and Boulder County do try to work to get people into housing and do have facilities, but there’s just not enough.”

City council and planners have been working on a plan for the site and at the June 6 City Council meeting, the Alpine-Balsam Vision Plan was formally accepted. Read that plan here.

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