DENVER — After more than 19 months, the City and County of Denver is closing the emergency homeless shelter at the Denver Coliseum.
The shelter opened on April 20, 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It originally served unhoused women, but when capacity increased for women at other locations, the shelter transitioned to serving men in August 2020.
According to a press release from Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST), more than 3,000 people stayed at the shelter since it opened, and they were served close to half a million meals.
“The success of this effort cannot be unscored, nor can the contributions of our community in helping keep our unhoused residents safe and sheltered during this pandemic,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release. “Those successes will inform our homelessness resolution work as we move forward.”
According to HOST, about 300 guests who were staying at the Coliseum have relocated to other 24/7 shelters or "protective action hotel rooms, which are designated for older individuals and people with underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19."
“We are forever grateful to our many partners, and to the community, for stepping up without hesitation when the pandemic hit,” said HOST Executive Director Britta Fisher. “Lifesaving work and services were quickly deployed at the Coliseum, and these measures now continue across our shelter network.”
The end of shelter services at the Coliseum comes about a month before the National Western Stock Show takes place. The Stock show was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is scheduled to take place from January 8-23 in 2022.
The Denver Coliseum usually hosts dozens of rodeo events for the Stock Show. Rocky Mountain PBS asked HOST if the homeless shelter was closing so preparations for the Stock Show could begin.
"Over the past several months we have opened additional men’s shelter locations, and our shelter network has capacity to serve men at other locations. The timing was right for the city to end sheltering at the Coliseum and to enable this asset to return to its intended use as an event and entertainment venue," HOST's communications director Derek Woodbury told Rocky Mountain PBS.
When the shelter first opened in April, guests described it as "heaven-sent." Now that's closing, some unhoused people feel uncertain about their future. "I don’t have any idea what I am going to do," Robert Green told Denver7. Green was one of the many men who had been calling the Coliseum home during the pandemic.
The pandemic has exacerbated the issue of homelessness in Denver. Earlier this year, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) conducted its annual “Point in Time Count” to determine how many people are experiencing homelessness in the Denver area. The agency's report found that a “drastic increase” in the number of people in Denver experiencing homelessness for the first time, a surge that surveyors attributed to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read a snapshot of the report here.
In August, HOST released a five-year plan to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Denver. You can read the full plan here.
For more information on emergency shelters for individuals and families in Denver, visit this link.
Kyle Cooke is the digital media manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at kylecooke@rmpbs.org or on Twitter at @KyleACooke.
