How does Colorado solve its homelessness problem? Here are three programs that could help.
Denver is buying up old motels, the state has plans to turn a former juvenile detention center into a homeless recovery campus, and nonprofits are building towers of apartments to get people out of shelters. Still, it’s not enough to solve Colorado’s massive homelessness problem.
Dozens of other programs are working on a smaller scale to get people into housing or prevent them from losing it in the first place. Here are three that could make a dent:
Preventing homelessness by hiring apartment maintenance workers
Problem No. 1: About 40,000 apartments are now under construction in the Denver area. All will need maintenance workers and front-office staff, which are hard to find in the current worker shortage.