Homeless shelters in Colorado

Larger cities have various organizations that operate shelters for the homeless. Keep in mind, people find themselves homeless for many different reasons, so the support they seek can vary.

Someone who has been a victim of domestic violence and finds themselves homeless may not seek the same shelter as someone who is suffering from drug and alcohol addiction problems.

Different shelters have organizations they work with and can assist based on who they work with. Here are a few examples:

Step 13 Denver

Step 13 in Denver is a male only “shelter & peer recovery program” for those who are looking for help getting past substance abuse problems. This facility was opened by a semi-pro boxer who suffered with the same problems and believed that the homeless needed “tough love”, not hand-outs , to overcome their addictions. This shelter-program offers a way to make money with what they refer to as “Step Jobs”. People in and around the community can call in and ask for assistance, offering a job for the day to someone in the program that is looking for work, and is capable. Once I asked to be put on the “Step job” list and was helping a family hang lights for the holidays. We spend the entire day on the house, climbing trees, anything they needed done to get everything they needed done for their Christmas holiday setup.

Saint Francis Day Shelter in Denver

This shelter is open to both male and female, this shelter was funded through charities and was only open during the day. Being a day shelter, how it could help was a slightly more restrictive in a few ways it operated. The services were more basic, offering a shower, a mail box to the homeless that needed a mailing address, there were clothing donations provided, but the way a person could make money was very different than the bigger shelters. Each day the shelter had a list of chores that needed to be attended to, so those wanting to earn “food stamps” could earn them by doing the chores each day. There were also day labor opportunities for those looking to make some cash.

Samaritan House in Denver

The Samaratin House allows both male and female residents, but only has an emergency “cold-weather” shelter space for females. Males have to find the Salvation Army emergency shelter pickup location by their Crossroads location. This shelter is funded through donations and had a credit system. They were backed by the Cathoilic Charities and their donations were frequent. If you want to go “shopping” in their donation section, you needed credits to spend as money, and similar to the Saint Francis day shelter, those opportunities came by way of doing additional work in the facility. This could range from cleaning the floors, to boxing donations, just general work that needed to be done. The amount of credits earned varied depending on the work needing to be done.

Bridgehouse, Ready to Work Program in Boulder

This shelter is a dual-use shelter, offering day shelter services like meals, and longer term services for the homeless that wanted assistance beyond the day services. This could range from someone who was being released from incarceration to a person simply homeless, but needed somewhere to go stabilize their life and fix whatever was keeping them in a state of homelessness. There is an entire assessment, evaluation, and case management process that takes place for those looking for the additional help with their homeless situation. This homeless shelter-program works different than those listed above when it comes to making money.

The Ready to Work program in Boulder requires either a certain amount paid (I think $60 per week) or a certain percentage of income earned (%30) to stay in their facility — in their homeless program. This work comes in one of two ways initially, by working on the outdoor crews under supervision of the crew management teams that fall under Chad Carbone or under the Executive Chef at the Community Table kitchen in Boulder. I mention the crew supervisor by name, because an important distinction between this shelter and others is that the people managing the work here have direct experience with homelessness. Chad was homeless for around 14 years I believe, and he has contracts with the City of Boulder to do cleaning and landscaping with Boulder Parks and Recreation, assisting with the upkeep at the Boulder Reservoir , and even doing work on trails and in fields with Open Space. The work done through the kitchen is the same type of work you would expect to have in any kitchen environment, from prep, to cooking, to cleaning. There is also catering services and other services through Naropa at the University.

You earn at least minimum wage, paid by check every 2 weeks, with all earnings that come with overtime and holiday pay, according to law. It’s not slave labor, and it’s structured to assist someone who isn’t exactly good with managing money to become better by showing them that they can easily pay their bills, save money, and still have money to spend on things they want.

Those are fours examples of shelters for the homeless that operate slightly different with regards to their function and purpose, as well as how someone homeless earns money while homeless. There are many other types of homeless shelters with unique purposes, but almost all allow for basic services, assistance, and referrals from within their doors.