Denver’s only youth homeless shelter facing more demand after Boulder facility shuts down

Walker said she didn’t feel comfortable expressing her identity in her hometown; she only knew a handful of others in the LGBTQ+ community.

In Denver, Walker said she’s had access to resources specific to queer people.

Carlson said Urban Peak’s largest demographic is LGBTQ+ children whose families did not accept them. They make up almost 40% of those in The Mothership. The remaining population splits about evenly between two categories: those whose families are experiencing housing instability, and foster youth who aged out of the system. 

The Salvation Army and Denver Samaritan House both offer overnight shelter to families in need, but staying in an adult shelter isn’t ideal for a young person, Carlson said.

“Experiencing homelessness for the first time in your life and then being in a bed next to someone who’s been in that situation for 40 years, you have very different needs and experiences,” she said. 

All of Denver’s shelters, with the exception of The Delores Project, separate residents based on gender, which Carlson said leaves transgender and nonbinary youth with limited options.

“I think that’s part of why we see such high numbers of queer youth on the streets,” Carlson said. 

Colorado has seven overnight shelters for children and young adults experiencing homelessness. The shelters are in Grand Junction, Littleton, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Thornton, Longmont and Denver. Carlson said all of them are closely interconnected, allowing residents to relocate if needed.

“If someone is having behavior that isn't appropriate here, we don’t want to just tell them to go sleep on the streets, we always want to be able to commit them to other places,” Carlson said.

Traditionally, Carlson said, The Source, Urban Peak and The Place in Colorado Springs have shifted people between the three shelters when the residents are having conflict with others in the shelter or need a change of scenery. But staff at each organization tries to prioritize keeping a resident in their community.

“To uproot someone from their support system is really hard on them, so we try to only do it when necessary,” Carlson said. “Building and being in  community is really important for these youth.”

Carlson said Urban Peak is concerned about potential financial struggles. About 30% of the organization’s $14 million budget comes from the state and federal governments, as well as the city of Denver. The remaining 70% comes from grants and donors. 

“Thirty percent is a lot when you’re facing the uncertainty at the federal level and then the deficit that both the state and the city are facing,” Carlson said.

Denver is facing a budget deficit projected at $250 million over the next two years, and Colorado has about a $1.2 billion deficit.

Urban Peak’s goal is to get residents into permanent housing long before they age out of the shelter at 25. Carlson said over the last few months, residents have been staying in the shelter for longer periods of time.

“In some ways, that’s good, because it means people are staying and engaging and stabilizing,” Carlson said. “But we ultimately want to get people into housing and we just don’t have the housing available.”

Urban Peak manages two apartment buildings that house about 100 people total. Those leaving the shelter are eligible for Section 8 vouchers. The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative then uses the Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool to measure a person’s vulnerability before placing them into housing.

Carlson said young people often place lower in need on the VISPDAT because the system prioritizes those who are chronically homeless, which naturally skews to older populations.

Colorado law permits minors to stay in shelters for up to 21 days. Urban Peak staff prioritize sending youth back to the home they came from –  with counseling and reconciliation, which often means working through parent-child conflicts and finding a way for the child to move back in with their guardian. If a child can’t return home, shelters are legally required to turn the child over to foster care.

“Most of the time, after we call the family, talk things over and work with a therapist, the family is willing to take the child back,” said Tameka Martin, minor-specific case manager at Urban Peak. “A lot of times, a little bit of separation is what they needed to sort some things out.”