Colorado Springs partners with the State to bring permanent supportive housing resources to region COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The City of Colorado Springs in partnership with Governor Hickenlooper’s Office is bringing the Pathways Home Colorado Supportive Housing Toolkit to the Pikes Peak region. A five-month series of technical assistance and peer learning sessions, the Toolkit brings together local, state, and federal housing experts and resources to reduce the number of individuals experiencing homelessness, expand community dialogue around housing stability, and increase permanent supportive housing units. “We rely on our local service providers and support organizations to implement many valuable programs in our community. We are excited to partner with the Governor’s Office and others to provide them the additional support and resources they need to ultimately improve our city’s ability to provide permanent housing solutions to our citizens,” said Mayor Steve Bach. Supportive housing, affordable rental housing combined with wraparound supportive services, is a nationally recognized best practice for successfully reintegrating highly vulnerable homeless families and individuals back into their community. Created by the State of Colorado, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) and LeBeau Development, with grant funding from Enterprise Community Partners, the Toolkit provides non-profits, housing authorities, and other homeless service providers with logistical support and best practices in project development from funding to property management and service provisions. “One of the biggest hurdles preventing homeless individuals and families from achieving stability and lasting success is a lack of permanent supportive housing,” said Jenn Lopez, Director of Homeless Initiatives for Governor Hickenlooper. “Bringing these projects to fruition can be a challenging process. The Toolkit aims to make this process easier by giving teams the tools and expertise they need to build, operate, and maintain effective supportive housing.” First launched in January 2014, the Toolkit has expanded Colorado’s development pipeline to include a dozen projects on the Western Slope and Front Range with the expectation of more than 200 new units in the next three years. The City and LeBeau Development will host an outreach meeting to meet with potential teams and help with applications: Weds, Jan. 21- 10 a.m. to noon Tim Gill Center for Public Media 315 E. Costilla Street, Colorado Springs, 80903 The supportive housing team will accept applications from community teams (composed of a primary service provider, a development partner, a management partner, and a local housing authority or nonprofit) from the Pikes Peak region now through January 30, 2015. After completing the five-month program, kicking-off in March 2015, teams will be ready to apply for project funding within a 36-month period. This application can be downloaded at springsgov/housing. It includes an overview of the Toolkit process, project partners, and submission deadlines. For more information and/or to RSVP by January 16, 2015 – please contact Zac Schaffner in Governor Hickenlooper’s Office at 303-866-2077 or [email protected].
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:04:38 +0000
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