Colorado Homeless Housing Coalition, Inc.- Non-Profit
Our Solution to the Colorado Homeless Situation
How many homeless Americans are employed in Colorado?
Homeless: Employed full-time, can’t afford Denver-area rent.
Josh Leopold, a researcher at the Urban Institute, estimated that about 25 percent of the homeless population is employed, while Megan Hustings, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, told Axios that between 40 and 60 percent of the homeless population floats in and out of full-time and part-time work.
25 percent of the non-indigent homeless population is employed. (thehumanimpact.org) Our program is designed to assist this working class of homeless persons, NOT the indigent, chronic, homeless population.
Our Team currently consists of professionals making a difference by finding solutions for Sustainable, Affordable Housing for the ever-growing homeless populations. Our team is constantly growing as others decide to become involved with our group.
Affordable Housing starts with support from compassionate people that care about those in need and wish to make a difference.
“Why don’t homeless people just get a job?”
Homeless: Moves from camp to camp.
Stereotype: Homeless people should just get a job–
Many homeless persons do have a job and have had those jobs for years. They just can’t afford the high cost of housing in our local communities. Forcing them to go live on the street or in tents with others experiencing the same issues. Housing is not affordable to a growing population of our Colorado residents. . .
It now takes a wage of $33.85 hour with no debt, to qualify for basic housing.
Along with the false stereotype that homeless people are lazy, this stereotype that homeless people should just get a job to solve their homelessness is incorrect. There are over 11,000 people experiencing homelessness in Denver-Metro (1800 considered to be chronically homeless), over 25% are employed, yet homeless, because of this, coming across someone who is homeless in our Colorado is pretty common.
While it’s estimated that 25 percent of the non-indigent Colorado homeless population are employed, things like wages and high housing costs get in the way of being able to afford a home. In addition, there is an estimated 40-60 percent who float in and out of jobs for varying reasons. Regardless of whether those experiencing homelessness have a job or not, there are many things that get in the way of finding a job that will help them out of homelessness.
Reason #1: No Permanent Address
Having no permanent address is pretty much what defines homelessness. Most jobs require a permanent address from those they consider hiring, not having one makes it more difficult to find a job. Without stability and rest, it is hard to focus and do a good job. Housing is expensive, which means that a minimum wage job won’t be enough to pay for most housing.
Reason #2: No Reliable Contact Information or Transportation
When you are offered a job, the employer needs a way to contact you. Not having a cell phone and or an email, for example, is a barrier. The other issue, not having reliable transportation or not having transportation at all. Thankfully Denver-Metro has the RTD system, but even that has its challenges. If you miss your bus, for example, people can often have to wait another 45 minutes for the next one. Often causing workers to be terminated.
Reason #3: Limited Access to Showers and Clothing
While there are places for people experiencing homelessness to take a shower, wash their clothes, or get nicer clothing for an interview, it is not the easiest to find. Over 20,000 people in the Colorado experiencing homeless, there is always a wait to get a shower, wash your clothes or find new ones. Showers are also not something many can take every day, sometimes not for several days.
Reason #4: Gaps in Employment History
Many employers won’t consider hiring someone when there are significant gaps in their employment history or even when they are not currently employed. Employment gaps can happen for many reasons, Yet, for those who have resources like a permanent address, a phone and transportation, finding a job may happen a little faster than for someone who is homeless.
Reason #5 Age and Abilities
The majority of the employed homeless that we work with are 35 years old and above. For many people who are getting older, it is harder for them to do labor work. Finding work outside of labor, especially without the resources mentioned above, is hard. There also can be mental or physical disabilities as well as issues that make it difficult to find a job and keep a job. It now takes a wage of $33.85 hour with no debt, to qualify for basic housing.
Where do we go from here?
If the reasons above were fixed… they would have a home, reliable transportation, and medications. With these the chances of them finding a job and staying in a job are much higher. However, when two key aspects are not addressed, their cycle of homelessness or job issues will continue.
The three main aspects we have found to be the root causes of homelessness are trauma, a profound catastrophic loss of family, or Over-Priced Housing. For the majority of the employed homeless that we work with each day, this is true. They all have something traumatic that has happened in their life, and then, share how their families or community were no longer able to be there for them.
We need to address the three root causes of homeless persons who are employed, so that as they can find a home, keep their job and stabilize, we want them to flourish. And the way to address these roots is through relationships, through being their family, their community. People they can count on.
25% of the current homeless population already are employed but can no longer afford the high cost of housing which is causing their homelessness and many issues for local businesses. .
It now takes a wage of $42.37 per hour with no debt to qualify for the smallest and least expensive housing in Colorado ($400,000 purchase price: The Denver Post–Aug. 12, 2022).
This group of homeless persons, the 25% with Jobs and current incomes, but can no longer afford to live in housing due to the high values of local housing, are the homeless persons our program has been designed to assist.
We are a charitable organization, recognized by the State of Colorado
We are NON-PROFIT, We are compassionate, and We can help…
We build affordable housing with down payment and closing cost assistance.
Ground level (podium level) medical and mental health services to the building and area residents. We provide financial and credit counseling when needed. This population is easier to assist because the main issue is affordable housing and transportation. Both are addressed within our program guidelines. Plus, we assist further by providing onsite medical care.
We do not intend to help the entire homeless population, only the minority that are currently employed. This population consists of approximately 4000-5500 persons state-wide using current estimate data. Our Pilot program can only assist 110 of these persons, leaving a huge gap but a fillable gap with other projects.
According to a recent study, “225,000 housing units must be built affordably for current Colorado residents in the next couple years, and an additional 100,000 to accommodate new residents. These challenges call for transformational change in housing policy.”
“A 2021 study showed that it costs on average $20,000 a year to house a person who is experiencing homelessness, as compared to the $30,000-50,000 it would cost to leave them unhoused and using emergency services like jails, detox facilities, shelters, and emergency rooms,”
COHHC-non-profit can house a person for $16,000-19,000per year, far less than this study.
We need $27 million to complete the construction of our housing. Perhaps this can be acquired with help from our State and Federal Government? Funding is our largest issue moving forward. Please consider helping us with your donations of time or monies to help us solve this basic issue of affordable housing.
