About Our Work

HOUSING
Housing is the cornerstone to living a healthy, satisfying life. To that end, we work to match people with suitable housing at one of our housing properties or through partnerships with landlords in the community. Each year, we operate 24 high-quality permanent supportive housing and affordable housing properties and administer nearly 2,000 vouchers, supporting over 4,400 households with housing options in an increasingly unaffordable state.

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.

Using the Housing First approach people experiencing homelessness move more quickly off the streets or shelters 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. 

HEALTHCARE
We respond to the health needs of adults and children experiencing or at-risk of homelessness through innovative health care at one of our Federally Qualified Health Centers. Stout Street Health Center, the largest and most comprehensive program located in downtown Denver, offers 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 nearly 17,000 patients annually.

Stout Street Health Center serves clients 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 health services regardless of a person’s ability to pay, immigration status, gender identity, ethnicity, or race. Learn more about the Stout Street Health Center.

SUPPORT SERVICES
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 individuals with resources for temporary shelter, permanent housing, public assistance programs, and other services can help make the journey easier.

The following are just some of the additional services we offer:  

• Assistance with public benefit applications
• Childcare
• Support for families
• Employment services
• Legal referrals and advocacy
• Native American Talking Circles
• Street Outreach and street medicine
• Veterans Programs

ADVOCACY
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, job loss, and other factors may also lead to, or exacerbate, housing insecurity.

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. Advocate with us!

Learn more in our Coalition Overview.

The Coalition is proud to continuously grow and expand to serve the most vulnerable Coloradans. For 40 years, the Coalition leverages its resources to provide housing, medical treatment, and other services to people experiencing homelessness. Using best practices and innovation when the times calls for it, the Coalition has a portfolio of successful nationally recognized models and programs. The following are some of our most recent work: 

Renaissance Veterans Apartments at Fitzsimons is a 60-unit housing property for veterans and their families in Aurora. With case management and support, veterans can live and thrive in this state-of-the-art building. Learn more here >> 

The John Parvensky Stout Street Recuperative Care Facility and Renaissance Legacy Lofts opened in early 2023. This first-of-its kind property in Denver meets the immediate health care needs of 500 people experiencing homelessness annually through medical respite and recuperative care while also serving 98 residents through permanent supportive housing apartments.. Learn more here >> 

The SIB and SIPPRA projects are special Housing First initiatives specially designed to assist individuals in Denver, Colorado experiencing chronic, or long-term, homelessness. At the Coalition, all our permanent supportive housing across our 23 Colorado properties comes with onsite wraparound services. But the individuals selected for the SIB and SIPPRA specifically have been trapped in a homelessness-jail or homelessness-hospital cycle—rotating in and out of jail, detoxification centers, and emergency health care. This cycle doesn’t help people access the assistance they need to find stability, and it comes at a major cost to taxpayers. Learn more here about how we are serving these clients >>

Renewal Village, opening in 2024 will create 107 units of transitional housing and 108 units of permanent supportive housing in the Globeville area. Formerly the Clarion Inn, this 215-room conference center hotel is being upgraded with more efficient building operations, enhanced security, adding kitchenettes to units, and conversion of the convention space into service delivery offices and community spaces. Seventy-four units will be reserved for former U.S. service members recovering from homelessness, served through the Coalition’s partnerships with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless was established in 1984 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Founded by a group of individuals with a will to act on behalf of people experiencing homelessness in Colorado, they recognized the struggles of people living in poverty and built the Stout Street Clinic. Our founders refused to tolerate the dangers faced by people sleeping in their cars, tents, or on the streets and worked diligently to provide the health services and compassion necessary in a changing world. This value has withstood the test of time with our staff and board members putting our clients and patients first in all we do.

In the course of our 40 year history, we have grown as leaders in the development of housing, healthcare, and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness in Colorado. We carved the pathway in sometimes treacherous territory for our most marginalized citizens who experience chronic homelessness, mental health issues, and severe trauma, and maintained our charge to always work for justice for all people.

We opened our first transitional housing building, the Ruth Goebel House, in 1988, shortly after our founding, when it became apparent homelessness would not disappear anytime soon. As of 2024, the Coalition now has 23 residential and transitional housing properties. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless believes housing is the foundation to living a healthy, meaningful life. To that end, we work to match people with appropriate housing where they can achieve stability and an improved quality of life and health. Each year, we operate high-quality supportive housing and affordable housing properties and administer more than 2,000 vouchers, supporting over 4,400 households with housing options in an increasingly unaffordable state.

In 2015, Stout Street Health Center replaced the Stout Street Clinic in what would become a nationally recognized and respected innovation in healthcare. This Federally Qualified Health Center provides fully integrated, patient-centered, trauma-informed medical and mental healthcare, substance treatment services, dental and vision care, social services and supportive housing in order to more fully address the spectrum of problems people experiencing homelessness bring to their medical providers. Each year, the Health Center and its satellite locations provide integrated health care for nearly 15,000 adults and children at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. We continuously add new programs and offerings to better care for our patients.

Four decades in, we serve more than 22,000 people at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness each year. Now, more than ever, we must work to ensure all people have the right to adequate housing and health care, and work to remove the barriers that restrict access to these rights.

We invite you to see our milestones here.