Homelessness Prevention and Response

Permanent Supportive Housing is an evidence-based intervention that implements housing first principles. PSH pairs financial assistance towards the cost of rent and utilities with voluntary wraparound services (e.g substance use disorder treatment, counseling, and employment assistance) to ensure that participants retain housing.  

There are 2 purpose-built PSH projects in or around Colorado Springs. 

• Greenway Flats is a 65-unit complex in the Mill St. neighborhood that opened in 2019. Springs Rescue Mission provides supportive services to Greenway Flats residents.  
• Freedom Springs is a 50-unit complex in Cimarron Hills that opened in 2020. Freedom Springs provides PSH for local veterans. Volunteers of America provides supportive services for residents.  

Additionally, human services agencies around the community place clients in scattered sites.   

Between 2015 and 2021, 85% or more of the people receiving PSH successfully retained housing 6 months after the intervention began.  

There are 2 more site based PSH projects under development.  

Rapid Re-Housing funding provides short-term and medium-term stabilization to people experiencing homelessness. RRH providers use funds to identify new housing units for people experiencing homelessness, provide financial assistance with rent and move-in costs, and provide voluntary service for people who have been successfully rehoused.  

The Place and Homeward Pikes Peak provide Rapid-ReHousing services for clients in Colorado Springs using City administered HUD funding.  

Street Outreach funding allows providers to meet people experiencing homelessness where they are and build rapport with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.  

HUD funding assists two local services providers conducting street outreach, The Place and the Colorado Springs Fire Department.  

• Community Development supported the creation of the Colorado Springs Fire Department Homeless Outreach Program (HOP).

• View shelter bed availability 
• HUD funding assists 3 local agencies to provide 690 beds for people experiencing homelessness at 3 shelters. 
  • The Place provides 20 beds nightly for young people experiencing homelessness.  
  • Springs Rescue Mission provides 450 beds nightly for adults experiencing homelessness. Low barrier beds at SRM allow people to access shelter regardless of sobriety, employment, or ability to produce identification.   
  • The RJ Montgomery Center provides 220 beds for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness.  
  • Between April of 2020 and January of 2023, HUD funding allowed local nonprofits including Embrave to operate a non-congregate shelter that mitigated the spread of Covid-19 and other communicable diseases among those experiencing homelessness.

• Homeless Outreach Court is an alternative justice program that allows criminal defendants experiencing homelessness to receive sanctions related to the resolution of homeless status in the place of fines or jail time.  

• Outreach Court has provided alternative sentencing for 18 defendants across 36 cases.  

The Homeless Outreach Team at the Colorado Springs Police Department responds to calls for service regarding homelessness and provides resource referrals for homeless residents.  

• The HelpCOS campaign is a public information campaign where resources for residents in crisis and residents who wish to help are shared.  
  • Handouts Don’t Help signs educate those who wish to provide financial support about where they can direct donations. Proceeds go directly to homeless service providers on a rotating basis. 
  • The HelpCOS phone line allows those with questions or who need help finding resources to speak with City staff. 
  • The HelpCOS website provides information and resources on homelessness

• The Pikes Peak Veteran Housing Fund is a private fund supported by the city that allows veterans who might otherwise remain homeless to receive the financial assistance necessary to obtain housing.  
• Since inception in 2020, PPVHF has housed 25 veterans and impacted 53 lives.

• The Low Income and Homeless Service Providers Bus Pass Program annually distributes support to providers in the form of bus passes that can assist clients with case management activities.  
• In 2022, 12572 one-ride bus passes were distributed to 20 programs across Colorado Springs that support people experiencing homelessness.  

City staff regularly work with the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care on the development of a regional plan to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring.