About the 10-year plan to end homelessness Denver’s aggressive Ten-Year plan to End Homelessness is on track to meet its goals.

Background

Denver’s Road Home was developed by the Denver Commission to End Homelessness. Over 350 diverse stakeholders served on committees and more than 500 people came together over the course of 18 months to provide recommendations and feedback to the Commission. Denver’s Road Home: Denver’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness was approved by Mayor Hickenlooper in May 2005 and by Denver City Council in September 2005.

The Commission

The Denver Commission to End Homelessness is a diverse, broad-based commission that created Denver’s Road Home, our city's ten year plan to end homelessness. The Commission includes individuals who are homeless, homeless service providers and representatives from the business community and neighborhood organizations.

Fiscal Agent

Mile High United Way is serving as the fundraising, resource allocation and fiscal manager for Denver’s Road Home by providing leadership and logistical support for this innovative, community-wide project.

A comprehensive solution

Denver’s Road Home is a comprehensive, integrated plan that blends a "housing first" solution with responsibility, self-reliance and accountability.

A Fiscally Responsible Approach—Denver has been spending over $70 million annually on shelter, health care and other services for the homeless without creating long-term solutions. Denver’s Road Home provides a coordinated, efficient and long-term response that is fiscally responsible and will save taxpayers money.

A Regional Response is Imperative—There have been 10,000 homeless people estimated in the metro area, 54% of these men, women and children live outside the City of Denver. Denver is collaborating with surrounding counties through the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, including Boulder, Douglas, Adams, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties. These six counties are working to expand affordable housing and shelter beds and to close gaps in services.

Self Reliance—The plan balances the provision of housing, treatment services and job training with expectations of personal responsibility and self-reliance from those who receive the services. It is about creating opportunity and helping people regain control of their lives.

A National Model

Through the work of the Commission, it became clear that the short-term solution to homelessness in Denver lies in adequate temporary shelter beds. The long-term solution is adequate affordable housing and employment for all residents. The national model for this, embraced by the federal Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is called Housing First. The premise is simple: The more quickly a person or family moves into housing, the sooner they can stabilize their life and address other issues. Housing assistance is the first priority, followed by case-management, mental-health and substance-abuse counseling, employment and other services that help sustain stability and self-sufficiency.

We are not alone.

There are over 450 communities across the country that are creating plans just like Denver, of which some have already reduced homelessness by as much as 75%. While Denver’s Road Home is tailored to the homeless in our community, we are part of a large and growing national movement to end homelessness.

Model Cities Program - Denver has been chosen to be part of the Model Cities Program, led by Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. The mayors in 25 cities are working to create a "covenant" to conduct street counts and share data collection. With foundation support, the group of cities will meet several times a year. Representative cities include Atlanta, Chattanooga, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia and San Diego.

Goals

The homelessness problem is urgent and must be addressed aggressively now. The immediate goal of Denver’s Road Home is to reduce homelessness in Denver by 75% over five years. Over ten years, Denver’s Road Home will meet the following eight goals:

1. Permanent and Transitional Housing—Develop 3,193 permanent and transitional housing opportunities.
2. Shelter Housing—Make safe and legal shelter beds and activities for all populations both day and night until adequate permanent housing is in place including the addition of 110 beds in year one of the Plan.
3. Prevention—Provide Denver residents facing homelessness more tools to keep them from ending up on the streets or in emergency shelters.
4. Services—Provide better access to supportive services that promote long-term stability and improved functioning.
5. Public and Safety Outreach—Improve public safety by increasing homeless outreach efforts to reduce panhandling, loitering and crimes.
6. Education, Training and Employment—Assist 580 people who are homeless to obtain skills and knowledge necessary to participate in the workforce.
7. Community Awareness & Coordinated Responses—Build community awareness and support for coordinated responses to eliminate homelessness.
8. Zoning, Urban Design & Land Use—Reform Denver’s zoning, building and development codes to facilitate an adequate supply of emergency and affordable housing.

Evaluating the plan

The success of Denver’s Road Home hinges on accountability. How do we implement this plan as strategically and cost effectively as possible? In an effort to ensure that we are tracking the ongoing progress of the plan and making adjustments as necessary, Denver is investing in evaluation at the front-end of the plan. Through ongoing research and evaluation we will ensure that this plan is executed as effectively and efficiently as possible, and will also be able to contribute to the existing literature of best practices for developing effective models to reduce homelessness.

Comprehensive Evaluation System

Denver has hired nationally recognized consultants, Dennis Culhane, Ph.D., and Steve Metraux, Ph.D., to implement its evaluation system. When complete, Denver’s evaluation system will monitor the overriding indicator: How many people in Denver are no longer homeless? The evaluation will also measure other indicators such as rates of employment, emergency room burdens, jail burdens and other indirect impacts that homelessness is having on the City and County of Denver.

Each year, The Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI), a coalition working with homeless assistance agencies, conducts a survey and issues a report which captures the characteristics and size of homelessness in each of the metropolitan Denver counties. Independent from Denver’s Road Home, MDHI’s annual Point-in-Time Survey measures the number of homeless living on the streets in the Denver metro area. To download their most recent point in time survey report, go to MDHI Downloads on their website.

Conclusion

To get an even better understanding of how much of an impact our Ten-Year Plan has already had on Denver’s Homeless, download the PDF here or review more in-depth information at documents and details. Also, continue to explore other online resources:

See What's Happening

Learn about the current state of Denver’s Road Home, Get answers to your questions, research homelessness, and view success stories to find out who Denver’s Road Home has been helping. Get involved

How you can participate

One of the best ways you can help is to get involved. Join other volunteers as we advance Denver’s Road Home toward its goals. Attend Meetings, Join Groups, And learn about our Events and Programs. How you can participate

Support the plan

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