Warren Village celebrates 50 years of providing support and childcare to single-parent families in Denver

Jun 13, 2024

DENVER — Warren Village, a nonprofit housing complex for single-parent households that also provides food support, early education and childcare, and mental health counseling, celebrated 50 years of service in Capitol Hill in May.

The nonprofit announced that its newest building, a $53 million development on Alameda, would open in 2025.

The need for a new location comes from the high demand for affordable housing as the cost of living in Denver increases, said Ethan Hemming, the president and CEO of Warren Village.

“[For our single parents] our waitlists are longer, the resource referrals are more,” said Hemming, who said between 20 and 40 families remain on the waitlist at any given time.

With free early education and childcare for its residents, Warren Village has served 8,600 families over the last half century.

Jasmine White, 34, moved into Warren Village in 2015 with her two daughters, Jordyn and Camryn, after moving to Denver from Tennessee.

“Life at home [in Tennessee] was just [tough], I think I was about to hit rock bottom,” said White, who was referred to Warren Village by her friend.

Before moving to Colorado, White said her relationship with Carmyn’s father had ended, and one of her close family friends had died.

The home they lived in also had a bed bug infestation and a leaky ceiling that destroyed their furniture, she said.

“[My friend’s mother] wanted me to do better and get an education and college degree. Her passing inspired me to do better,” said White of her decision to leave Tennessee.

After a friend paid for White’s family to move to Colorado, White applied for and received housing at the original 1974 Warren Village location on Gilpin Street.

In order to qualify for one of the units in the 92-apartment building, parents must have at least 60% custody of their children, work full-time, be enrolled in school or in recovery treatment on their way to full-time employment. Single parents typically stay at Warren Village for about two years but the length of stays depend on that family’s unique situation.

Once they’re approved, families pay rent based on income, ranging from $25 a month up to 30% of their income if they are working.

White moved out in 2017 into her own apartment but returned to celebrate the 50th anniversary at the organization's May block party. She now works as an education employment coordinator at the Denver Housing Authority and credits the support she received at Warren Village with restoring her relationship with her daughters.

Warren Village residents receive childcare and early education services on the premises. For school-age kids, the organization has a Kids’ Club where students find academic support and fun activities such as pizza nights, talent shows, and dance competitions.

“[Warren Village] gave me a sense of community, village, and family,” White said. “Still till this day, I have relationships with people I gained here. They are my primaries, they are close to my heart, and even my children have maintained relationships since then.”

White said Warren Village not only connected her with affordable housing but also provided a therapist who helped her work through her mental health struggles and focused on building a stronger nurturing relationship with her daughters.

White said there was an extreme lack of quality time she spent with her kids. She was mainly focused on financially providing for her daughters and forgot how to be a mom.

“Having the support and the push to do the best as I can as a parent pretty much originated here [at Warren Village],” said White.

“A lot of people may look at transitional housing as not ideal but I can definitely say I’m glad that was part of my growth,” she said.

Isabel Rodriguez,31, a resident of Warren Village, plays with her daughter Starliya Rozier, 3.
Photo: Lindsey Ford, Rocky Mountain PBS

White would like to complete her Master's degree, earn a promotion at work and become a homeowner.

“But other than that, I just really want to be happy,” said White

Hemming knows White personally and said it's heartwarming to see she is doing well in life and that Warren Village helped her.

“It's important to look at Jasmine or those who found success, but it's also important to acknowledge that not everybody finds success right away, and the pathway coming out of systemic structures of oppression can take a long time. It's not a two-year model,” said Hemming.

Families that move on from Warren Village either have found new housing on their own or staff members have helped them find affordable housing.

According to the Denver Housing Affordability report, Denver's housing deficit in 2022 ranges from 13,148 to 30,930 units. To meet population growth and close the housing deficit by 2028, the city needs between 31,000 to 49,000 additional housing units.

In addition to being scarce, housing is expensive in Denver. Pay doesn’t always keep up. ZipRecruiter data from 2024 shows that the average single parent in Denver makes a little more than $45,000 a year.

But the average cost of a home in Denver is $651,000, which requires the potential home buyer to make an average annual salary of $160,000 in order to make a $3,753.73 monthly house payment.

Isabel Rodriguez, 31, a current Warren Village resident, said she is not able to afford the market price for buying or renting a home on her own while raising her three-year-old daughter, Starliya Rozier. Originally from New Jersey, Rodriguez moved to Colorado in 2014 and moved into Warren Village last year. Before that, she lived with friends.

Rodriguez was born with congenital glaucoma and cataracts that caused her to become completely blind.

“Being a single mom and being totally blind and trying to navigate real-life situations and having a kid, was tough for me for a while,” said Rodrguez. “I wouldn’t say it was tough because I’m blind, my blindness has never really defined me, I just always saw it as a characteristic of me.”

Among other resources, Warren Village provided Rodriguez with braille flashcards so she could teach Starliya preschool basics at home.

“Warren Village has been such an accepting community for someone with a disability and because of them I now go through therapy,” said Rodriguez.

Taking Starliya to crowded places such as the grocery store also poses a challenge for Rodriguez because, like any toddler, Starliya has a lot of energy and likes to wander around.

“That requires a lot of patience. We’re currently working on it,” Rodriguez said. “It's a 24/7 job. I don’t have the luxury of dropping my daughter off at her grandparents or her aunt’s house because my family is back in New Jersey.”

A full-time student at Community College of Denver, Rodriguez plans to transfer to Metro State and get her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in social work.

“I want to be in so many places at one time,” said Rodriguez, who said she struggles with balancing her personal life with being her daughter’s sole caretaker.

“I love [Starliya] more than anything in this world,” she said. “It’s a very indescribable feeling. I live for her, I breathe for her, she’s my purpose, she has helped me become the woman that I am today.”