Our Areas of Expertise

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless believes housing is the cornerstone to living a healthy, satisfying life. To that end, we work to match people with suitable housing where they can achieve stability and an improved quality of life and level of health. Each year, we operate 19 high-quality permanent supportive housing and affordable housing properties and administer nearly 2,300 vouchers, supporting over 4,300 households with housing options in an increasingly unaffordable state.

Each property has its own character and supports the diverse needs of our residents who vary from individuals to families. Quality architectural designs and environmental standards add value to neighborhoods and cultivate pride and well-being among residents. Buildings are close to public transportation to support the residents, and offer many amenities, depending on location, including community rooms for meetings and classes, computer labs, playgrounds, and outdoor space to congregate.

Most importantly, wrap-around supportive services such as counseling, life skills training, financial literacy, and employment assistance are available at most locations to support the residents to maintain safe and stable housing. We address the causes and consequences of homelessness through housing and support services provides critical assistance to over 21,000 families and individuals each year.

The following listings showcase our properties with the most recent opening of Renaissance Downtown Lofts in 2018. We broke ground on December 18, 2018 on the Veterans Renaissance Apartments at Fitzsimons for veterans at-risk or currently experiencing homelessness.

Housing First Approach

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless uses the Housing First approach, designed to help people experiencing chronic homelessness move more quickly off the streets or out of the shelter system and into housing. Housing First is a no barrier model that includes rapid access to housing, crisis intervention, and follow-up intensive case management and therapeutic support services to prevent the recurrence of homelessness. We know the Housing First approach helps people experiencing homelessness, but we also know it saves cities money from people experiencing homelessness chronically using emergency rooms, impatient medical and psychiatric care, detox services, incarceration, and emergency shelter. Overall, a 73 percent reduction was reported in emergency service costs for chronically homeless individuals with disabilities, for a 24-month period, as compared to the 24 months prior to entry. The total emergency cost savings averaged $31,545 per participant. Read the full Housing First Works report.

Renaissance Property features:

• Supportive housing services for families and individuals currently or formerly experiencing homelessness
• Affordable housing for lower to moderate income families and individuals
• Transit-oriented locations selected among main bus routes and light rail lines
• Communities that aid in recovery from the trauma of homelessness 
• Superior design standards that rival market rate developments
• Built "green" to promote healthy environments, healthy individuals and built to save on utility and energy costs and to reduce its carbon footprint
• Accessible and adaptable units for people living with disabilities
• Some locations adjacent to health care and childcare facilities
• Investment in targeted neighborhoods stimulates new economic activity
• Retail space in selected developments creates employment opportunities for residents
• Significant savings in municipal costs resulting from fewer emergency room visits, inpatient hospital stays, detox visits and days in jail

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless responds to the specialized health needs of adults and children experiencing or at-risk of homelessness through innovative health care at one of five Federally Qualified Health Centers (Stout Street Health Center, West End Health Center, Health Outreach Program, Fort Lyon Health Center, Stout Street Health Center at Quigg Newton Neighborhood Resources, and Stout Street Health Center at St. Francis Center). At Stout Street Health Center, the largest and most comprehensive program which is centrally located downtown, we offer medical and behavioral health care, substance use treatment, dental, vision, and pharmacy services all in one building to reduce as many barriers as possible for our patients and to address mental health conditions, substance use disorders, life stressors, and chronic disease, among others.

Stout Street Health Center and its five satellite locations include the patient into the decision-making of their care and focus on trauma to fully address the spectrum of health concerns patients bring to their medical providers. With 400+ staff members—including primary care providers, nurses, behavioral health providers, dental staff, eye care, physicians, pharmacists, case managers, peer specialists, and additional staff support—the health centers work to provide quality care through evidence-based medicine.

Stout Street Health Center serves over 15,000 adults and children each year with compassionate, kind, and professional medical care. Opened in 2014, the 53,192 square-foot Health Center replaced the former Stout Street Clinic, an aging structure that lacked adequate space to effectively meet the complex healthcare needs of an expanding homeless population.

Healthcare can be complicated. At the Coalition, we work to ensure it is as stress-free as possible, as well uniquely meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness. That means we offer behavioral healthcare at no cost to our patients.

Health care services include:

• Chronic Disease Management
• Preventative screenings
• Urgent Care – Sick care – colds, flu, etc.
• Wound Care
• Skin procedures
• Specialty Referrals
• Hepatitis C and HIV treatment
• Psychosocial or diagnostic assessments
• Brief counseling
• Psychiatry
• Wellness classes/groups
• Individual therapy
• Medication assisted treatment (buprenorphine)
• Specialty care referrals

Substance Use Treatment

The Stout Street Health Center holds a licensed ASAM Level 1 Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Treatment team. Our team of addiction professionals provide individual and group counseling to assist patients in their recovery.  

Wellness Classes/Groups

We provide a variety of classes and psychotherapy groups for prevention, education, and treatment. Topics may include: Diabetes Management, Anger Busters, DBT Skills, Beating the Blues, Lasting Recovery, and more. Social support and knowledge can be valuable tools for coping. Patients can access schedule of classes by asking their provider or front desk staff for more information.  

Services are provided to people experiencing homelessness or at-risk of becoming homeless regardless of a person’s ability to pay or immigration status.

As a Federally Qualified Health Center, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless’ health care system is eligible for Federal Tort Claims Act medical malpractice liability protection. CCH is a Health Center Program grantee under 42 U.S.C. 254b and deemed a Public Health Service employee under 42 U.S.C. 233(g)-(n).

If you are a person currently experiencing homelessness seeking access to Support Services, please click here.

Support Services is an umbrella term for the wide array of services that help a person currently, previously, and at-risk of experiencing homelessness to achieve self-sufficiency and independence. At the Coalition, in addition to housing and comprehensive healthcare, we work to provide a robust array of Support Services such as counseling, case management, benefits acquisition, life skills training, employment services, and so much more.

Homelessness is one of the greatest challenges a person can encounter in life and having access to staff who are able to connect you with resources for temporary shelter, permanent housing, public assistance programs, and other services can help make the journey easier.

The following is an exhaustive list of Support Services available at the Coalition:

• Advocacy
• Assistance in applying for benefits (Food Stamps, AND, SSDI, SSI, etc.)
• Child care center
• Diapers and baby supplies (when available) Emergency Shelter information and referrals
• Employment services
• Housing information
• Housing Intake and Placement Services
• Legal referrals and advocacy
• Linkage to community resources
• Linkage to Integrated Health Services (medical, dental, vision, pharmacy services)
• Native American Talking Circles
• Nursing assistance
• Programming designed specifically to meet needs of children ages birth to 6-years-old
• Psychiatric services
• Referrals for Representative Payee services
• Referrals to food resources
• Referrals to other agencies
• Renaissance Works Employment Services
• Rural Initiatives
• Street Outreach
• Substance Use Treatment
• Support and problem solving in connection with social service agencies
• Supportive Housing
• Therapy (individual and group)
• Transportation assistance and referrals
• Veterans Programs
• Vocational and educational referrals

The Coalition believes integrated services must be coupled with education to build the public’s understanding of the factors that lead to homelessness and advocate for smart, compassionate solutions. Because of the inflated cost of housing and medical care, wage stagnation, and our state’s overburdened safety net, many Coloradans are one disaster away from losing their home. Factors such as domestic violence, mental illness, and addiction disorders may also lead to, or exacerbate, housing insecurity.

In order to support the Coalition’s work to provide integrated housing, healthcare, and support services to clients, the Education and Advocacy team explores and challenges the mechanisms that perpetuate homelessness in our communities. We recognize a need for a shift in the way our communities perceive and address homelessness, and we advocate for policies and resources that allow the most vulnerable Coloradans to achieve and maintain housing stability and access to critical health services.

We work with trusted community partners, government agencies, and elected officials on the federal, state, and local levels to affect lasting, meaningful policy change. Our team shapes policy priorities around homelessness, relying on the expertise of our internal Advocacy Committee which gives valuable insight into the needs of people experiencing homelessness. Staff and people with lived experience of homelessness provide powerful testimony on the federal, state, and local levels on policies impacting people experiencing homelessness and those living on the edge.

We invite you to learn about the issues impacting our most vulnerable citizens and ask you to join in our fight by signing up for our Action Alert emails. Learn how to advocate by visiting our advocacy guide here.