City plans to open day services center at Boulder Shelter for the Ho…

Boulder has announced its plans to open a long-awaited homelessness day services center at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless at 4869 Broadway in the coming months.

The city’s vision is for the center to offer a variety of different services in one place for people experiencing homelessness. City Council identified the day services center as a priority during its 2022 retreat. And, while it’s not clear yet exactly what services the center will offer, it could include amenities such as restrooms, showers, laundry and meal service. The center may also offer services such as mental health support, addiction counseling and assistance with transitioning into housing.

Michael Block, CEO of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, told the Daily Camera the shelter will rely on third-party partners to provide many of these services. Some of these partners could include the community court, the Focused Reentry program, and mental and physical health service providers. Still, Block said, he and his staff are “optimistic” about the new center being located at the shelter site.

“We need to design programming and access that is going to meet (unhoused residents’) needs,” Block said. “I think we can do that up here. Time will tell, but we’re very optimistic that we will be able to create an environment that will provide services to folks who are unsheltered.”

The city originally planned to open the center in a vacant one-story office building at 1844 Folsom St. However, at a council meeting in late September, city staff said the owner and developer of the Folsom Street building had decided to “go in a different direction” and had pulled out of an agreement to allow the center there. A few months earlier, neighbors in the adjacent Horizon West Condominiums, 1850 Folsom St., had vocally opposed the center opening at that location.

Kurt Firnhaber, director of Boulder Housing and Human Services, said he and city staff are “excited” to have found a new location for the center after the Folsom Street deal fell through. He added that the shelter is currently not being used during the day and is a facility that unhoused individuals in Boulder already use.

“We looked at a number of different properties in the city, and it’s an extraordinarily difficult city to find locations and buildings that fit the criteria that we’re looking for, but also within a price that’s reasonable,” said Firnhaber. “So I think it’s a good outcome for the individuals it’s serving, and I think it’s a very good outcome for us as a community and using our resources as wisely as possible.”

According to a news release, the Boulder Shelter was not originally considered as a location for the day services center, but it meets criteria for the city such as size, accessibility, affordability and proximity to public transportation.

Currently, though, the shelter can only operate at night (except during extreme weather) because of an agreement the city made with neighbors in the area. The site will need to be open 24/7 in order for both the shelter and the day services center to operate there.

To clear the way for this change, the Boulder Shelter must apply to amend its land use and management plan, and staff in the city’s planning department will need to review and approve the application. Because the process is done by administrative review, it won’t come before the Planning Board or City Council for a vote.

Firnhaber said the proposed land use of locating the center in that area is already allowed by Boulder’s zoning laws, and he anticipates that the city will approve the shelter’s application. However, he said, the city is doing community engagement with nearby residents and will host a “good neighbor meeting” in early 2024 to hear community members’ concerns and adjust plans for the day center where necessary.

The city expects to open the day services center later this winter.