Proposed 24/7 homeless shelter in Fort Collins draws questions from crowd. Here are answers

Staff from the Fort Collins Rescue Mission and companies it's working with to build and design a new 24/7 shelter on North College Avenue answered questions from the public and went over early plans for the design at a neighborhood meeting Thursday night.

Discussion around the plan — to build a “new, trauma-informed facility for individuals experiencing homelessness” — drew about 140 people, online and in person, to the Thursday night meeting. And while some expressed support for the Rescue Mission’s intent and goals to improve homeless services in the area, many voiced concerns about how the new shelter would impact safety and whether it was compatible with the neighborhood.

The development application said the Rescue Mission gave “careful consideration” to the compatibility of the area and noted that not all portions of the space will be visible from the street and that landscape and streetscape will “reflect a more urban character that aligns with the vision outlined in the North College Corridor Plan.”

In response to concerns around compatibility, Neighborhood Services Manager Marcy Yoder reiterated a number of times that the proposed site is in the service commercial district, which is zoned for a homeless shelter.

“The decision for the shelter to be located on this piece of property is not a question for tonight,” Yoder said ahead of the presentation. “That decision was already made. It does fit the zone, it is an allowable use there.”

The neighborhood meeting was the last step in the process before the Rescue Mission can formally submit its application to the city.

The design of the new shelter, which could change, straddles land currently owned by Fort Collins billionaire philanthropist Pat Stryker’s Bohemian Cos. and the city of Fort Collins. The city and Bohemian have been negotiating a land partnership that would help create more buffer between the shelter and homes to the west and create an area for stormwater retention.

Outlined plans show the proposed facility will include beds for about 200 men and a large outdoor space ensuring that "people will not be turned away at night." It also "ensures people will not be camping out around the building, as there is safe, dignified space inside."

There will be a large, fenced backyard that is separated from the adjacent neighborhood, according to plans. "This space is far larger than any other outdoor spaces on similarly sized shelters, and we trust that it will allow people to have space to rest within the shelter itself," according to planning documents.

Though it’s still in its early phase and no plans have been submitted, here were some of the most common questions, and their answers, from the meeting.

Why is this being proposed now?

The idea of building a larger overnight shelter in north Fort Collins has been in the works for more than three years. And put simply, senior director of Fort Collins Rescue Mission Seth Forwood said, there’s the need for it in the community.

“We've been full for a very long time, and we are out of space,” he said. “We have no more space to offer for those people who were seeking our help.”

Currently, the Rescue Mission’s location on Linden and Jefferson streets can house 106 men, and in the winter they have an overflow shelter that’s open only at night and can fit an additional 44. The new shelter will provide space for 200 men 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Why was this land selected for the shelter?

Out of six options the Homeless Advisory Committee identified across town in 2019, the spot off of North College Avenue was identified to be the best to address the needs of the shelter, Forwood said.

When asked why they didn’t select an already existing building that could be shifted from its current use to a shelter, Forwood said while that would potentially be a quicker option than a shelter that will likely take two years to open, there wasn’t the supply or a building willing to house them.

In addition, Chad Holtzinger, president of Shopworks Architecture — the firm working with the Rescue Mission — said adaptive reuse can often require “as much or more work actually then building something (from the) ground up.

"And unfortunately, what you end up with is a shoehorn solution that doesn't actually meet the need particularly well and you spend the same amount of money to get to that outcome.”

Who will be allowed in the shelter?

The Fort Collins Rescue Mission operates a low-barrier shelter, meaning they do not conduct background checks, require guests to be sober or prohibit people from staying in the shelter because of criminal histories or other issues.

“The reason why we do that is because, especially in winter, the difference between coming into shelter and staying out of shelter is a life and death decision or a life or death circumstance,” Forwood said.

He added that while people may be concerned about who is staying there, “it will be the same people that are out and about in our community now, except for now they will be accessing services in our doors rather than outside.”

The shelter serves only men.

What about women and children who are experiencing homelessness?

Forwood said that when the city conducted research on its homeless population back in 2019 through forming the temporary Homelessness Advisory Committee, they found that single, homeless men were the largest demographic of homeless people struggling in Fort Collins.

“Our first priority is to serve single men experiencing homelessness because that was identified as the biggest need,” Forwood said on Thursday.

There are other shelters in the community, like Catholic Charities and the Murphy Center for Hope, that provide services for women and families, but the Rescue Mission will continue operating its space for men only.

What safety precautions will be in place to ensure there aren’t negative impacts to the surrounding areas?

In response to concerns about loitering and safety issues around the new shelter, Forwood asked people to think of their current location, where they’ve managed to avoid having people sleeping on the streets and have worked with neighbors to ensure there aren’t safety threats.

Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said police rely on the strong relationships they have with various shelters to ensure that if someone is repeatedly causing an issue, police can address it with shelter staff and enforce consequences.

Swoboda also announced the creation of the homeless outreach and proactive engagement team, or HOPE team, that is new in the police force to address issues with people experiencing homelessness and is modeled after the department’s mental health response team.

“(It) is going to be focusing specifically on those who are experiencing homelessness, and it's about services, it is about making sure people are connected to what they need to be successful,” Swoboda said.

“But it's also absolutely about enforcement. And it's also absolutely about consequences to that behavior. And so it's not, ‘Let’s just give rides and continue to counsel people.’ If people are breaking the law out there, they'll be arrested, they will be cited and we will be enforcing the law.”

Why was the shelter designed with trauma in mind?

Holtzinger also spoke to the unique, trauma-informed design of the shelter. “The people who experience shelter here will have (largely) experienced, in their life, trauma,” he said, so the building will be designed to be more comforting and less anxiety-inducing for guests.

“Harmful shelter settings create poor outcomes,” he said. “What we're proposing here is a purpose-built structure that addresses the kinds of things that we know about relative to how people experience the environment, and how they're experiencing their body and the environment, and what they need to really find an opportunity to flourish.”

He gave examples including making sure there were views to the outside so people didn’t feel stuck, good visibility inside so guests aren’t on edge of potential threats, “simple, warm” designs and features to provide comfort and, above all, safety features to allow staff, the guests and the neighborhood to feel comfortable with what’s happening.

Will Fort Collins Rescue Mission still operate on Linden and Jefferson streets when the new shelter is open?

Forwood said the Rescue Mission is not planning to operate two sites and will move all of its operations to the new shelter once it’s open. He said right now the plan is to sell their current location.

What’s next in the process?

The Rescue Mission must wait at least 10 days from the date of the neighborhood meeting to submit its formal application to the city. After that, the application will be reviewed through an iterative process that can be followed online, staff will review the application to ensure every element meets city code, then there will be a public hearing with the planning and zoning commission.

Forwood told the Coloradoan after the meeting that his biggest takeaway from it was that there is support from the community and nearby neighbors and that they’ll need to continue engaging the north Fort Collins community to learn how to provide a safer community good.

“The most important thing is that we already have people experiencing homelessness impacting those neighbors or businesses right now,” Forwood said. “We can do nothing, and that’s probably the worst-case scenario. Or we can try to wade into the uncertainty of what this is together and discover we need all the voices here tonight as part of the solution.”

Molly Bohannon covers city government for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @molboha or contact her at mbohannon@coloradoan.com. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: New Fort Collins homeless shelter draws questions, answers at meeting