Colorado Springs considering funding for new shelter as part of strategic homelessness plan

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - On Tuesday, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade announced the city is drafting a long-term plan for addressing homelessness. City officials explained to KRDO13 that this may include using funds from the pandemic to contract out the building of a new homeless shelter.

Katie Sunderlin, the Chief Housing Officer with Colorado Springs, explains that this plan is in its early stages while they collect feedback from community partners, small businesses, and residents. She says the plan is just a re-evaluation of how to tackle homelessness since the previous plan was created in 2019 during a different administration.

The plan follows Mayor Mobolade's theme of addressing mental health and housing in the Springs. In this plan, Sunderlin says that through federal pandemic-era money, the city could fund the construction of a new shelter in the city, as well as low-income housing units which could have resources and services in-house, much like the existing apartment building "The Commons," which opened up in April 2023.

"[It] could be a shelter for families, or for those who are being released from the hospital that have higher medical needs, that the shelters can't tend to," explained Sunderlin, who says that the pandemic funds were originally granted to build a shelter that would be "non-congregational", and instead have individual rooms, to counter the spread of COVID.

Sunderlin says the city has already spoken with community partners, such as The Springs Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, The Place, and other groups like them.

"These are our on-the-ground partners. These are the folks that are working daily with our population experiencing homelessness. And so they have the highest level of expertise that we really want to make sure that our efforts are aligning with theirs," said Sunderlin.

Amongst that population, is 28-year-old Ramon Southern, who was lying down with his belongings in Acacia Park on Tuesday evening. He tells KRDO13 he has been homeless for six years after dropping out of UCCS.

He says that a place for people like him to go on a daily basis, just to take care of basic needs, would help keep them off the streets, and away from public spaces.

"Somewhere to go during the day where it's not like the library, where people can connect, and be like charging their phones, and they can really talk," said Southern, who acknowledged the presence of homeless people in public spaces, and that what they might be doing isn't fair to others.

"Parks are for recreational purposes. We have homeless people doing recreational drugs, and it's not legal, but who's to say that that's not affecting the people around there," he said.

Other residents in downtown on Tuesday, offered their own feedback for the city, like Stephan Reinhardt, who considers himself an activist that previously lived in San Francisco, a city known for its tribulations from a large homeless population.

"Sleeping in public shouldn't be illegal... Other issues [like] more public restrooms would be awesome to help homeless people out here," said Reinhardt about Downtown Colorado Springs.

Meanwhile, Karli Trouts, who comes from the East Coast and has only lived in the Springs for a little over a year, says that she acknowledges the struggle for those who are homeless, but says that businesses downtown deserve to have their sidewalks clear.

"This is how people put food on the table for their families. It's like, why would they want, you know, people sleeping right outside of their business?"

The city says you can expect to see more dates on when public feedback sessions will be held on their website, starting in mid-August.

Their official plan will likely not be finished for the next few months, as they gather that feedback.