Support growing for larger homeless shelter in Pueblo

As Pueblo continues to deal with a much colder winter than usual, local homeless advocates and some city leaders have been discussing whether the city needs a bigger shelter to shield more unhoused people from harsh conditions.

Paul Montoya, an advocate for those experiencing homelessness and the former pastor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Church and Youth Center, said that discussion is nothing new.

“I’ve been doing this since June 2010 and every winter it’s the same thing,” Montoya said. “Pueblo does need a bigger shelter.”

There have been at least two instances this winter where a multiday cold snap swept over Pueblo and pushed daytime and nighttime temperatures into the single digits. Crazy Faith Street Ministry was open as an overnight shelter during those periods, as was Pueblo Rescue Mission, which operates throughout the year and during the day.

But each location approached capacity during that time and at times exceeded it, including last week when temperatures again plunged to single digits amid heavy snowfall. Crazy Faith had 43 men on the men’s side last Wednesday. The shelter, which has a capacity of 50 people, usually averages 25 to 35 men and 15 to 25 women on nights it opens.

“We technically don’t want more than 25 on each side because that puts us at our 50,” said Tammy Kainz, who runs Crazy Faith with her husband, Lonny. “But there’s not another option, really. That’s why obtaining a larger building will solve that problem.”

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The Kainzes submitted a proposal last week asking the city of Pueblo to buy Crazy Faith a 4,100 square-foot property at 607 W. Seventh St., so it can increase its capacity and expand its outreach services. Kainz said she expects the city will entertain and welcome the proposal, especially after it was encouraged by city councilors Regina Maestri and Sarah Martinez.

City council president and mayoral candidate Heather Graham echoed that support for a larger shelter during a city council meeting Monday and called the $150,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding the city has so far issued to Crazy Faith a “band-aid.”

Graham said she’s hopeful council can find a more permanent solution to sheltering unhoused people before winter returns later this year.

“I don’t care what side of the aisle you sit on or what your income looks like — when it’s cold, people think, ‘What are the homeless doing tonight?’ Or when you see people laying on the street, it’s like, man, what can we do to mitigate this problem?,” Graham told the Chieftain.

“We don’t have a sufficient place in Pueblo to help these people.”

Both Crazy Faith and Pueblo Rescue Mission, which as of Dec. 23 had 60 beds for men, 35 beds for women and room for 18 people to sleep on the floor, reached capacity last week, Graham said during the meeting, and the city opened the Pueblo Transit Center last Thursday so it could serve as an emergency overnight warming shelter.

That emergency declaration lapsed Friday morning at 6 a.m. One hour later, the temperature reached its daily low of 11 degrees and didn't hit its daily high of 44 degrees until 4 p.m.

Daytime warming shelter options in Pueblo were found to be sparse during a cold snap in December and that hasn’t changed. Crazy Faith isn’t open during the day so the Kainzes can rest and prepare for the next evening. Pueblo Rescue Mission didn’t approach its capacity during that period in December, said Melanie Rapier, executive director of the shelter, but served emergency clients who stopped by.

Residents at the rescue mission are either emergency clients or participate in the Step Back In program, which includes a series of accountability measures and group programming that can help people escape homelessness. Some of the residents who participate in the program are full-time employees.

Graham said she feels the city should spend more money to erect buildings or structures that are dedicated to addressing the homelessness crisis.

“I’d like to see the city buy some land, put up a building and find someone to run it where when you walk in, you have caseworkers in there and people in need know where to go,” Graham said. “I think that’s hard right now because there are so many different entities and nonprofits that people don’t know (specifically) where to go to get the most help.”

That type of facility could shelter dozens of people while also providing them with a laundry list of medical and social services, Graham said. It could be a place where unhoused people can shelter for the night and connect the next day with a mental health worker or someone who could help them pursue work or learn how to remove barriers to employment, such as not having photo identification.

Those types of services are available in Pueblo but offered through different entities in separate locations. There’s also the factor of time when trying to acquire specific services — in some cases, it can take six months to obtain a driver’s license because of the many requirements and document needed to secure one, Rapier said.

“Those are really simple things that create barriers and (some) people don’t understand,” Rapier said. “It becomes a hardship.”

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The Kainzes' ultimate goal is to have a location that’s a “one-stop shop” where unhoused people can have all their needs met and their own 10-by-10-foot bed space, Tammy said. Such a facility could also have a kennel room where unhoused residents or visitors could leave their pets, she said, and a kitchen where they could learn how to cook and develop other culinary skills. It might even include a room or garage that could serve as an auto repair shop where they could learn mechanic skills.

In that scenario, unhoused residents could also return to the facility during the day to avoid those colder daytime temperatures and work with other local entities to pursue work or remove other barriers they might be facing, Tammy said. It would be a combined and cumulative effort to help those residents escape homelessness.

One vacant property that is large enough and fits that bill is the former Safeway on West 29th Street that closed in 2016, Tammy said. The Kainzes toured that location, which is about 45,000 square feet, last month and felt it could be the right fit.

“I think that (type of space) would not only benefit the residents but the city itself,” Tammy said, noting that the area is conducive to helping people experiencing homelessness and "even the parking lot is big enough" to provide other services.

However, the price point for that building is around $3 million, which is far too steep for the Kainzes to consider themselves or potentially loop in the city, Tammy said.

“Would we outgrow the (West Seventh Street location)? Most likely, but step by step (is our approach),” Tammy said. “(That Seventh Street building) would give us more room for the growth that’s happening so we can handle next winter.”

Montoya said he feels Pueblo would be better equipped to address homelessness as a whole if the city had a campus such as Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs, where people experiencing homelessness have shelter and can also receive other resources and services.

“If we had a bigger Rescue Mission, bigger homeless shelter, it would solve a lot of problems,” Montoya said.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Cold winter showing need for larger Pueblo homeless shelter