http://www.du.edu/burnescenter 1
Report Number: 104
City of Loveland
Homelessness Strategic Plan
Gary Sanford, MPA
Project Lead – Burnes Center
Margay Witzdam
Research Assistant – Burnes Center
Cullen Dilldine, MSW
Research Assistant – Burnes Center
Vanessa Fenley, PhD
Consultant
Jennifer Lopez
Consultant – Project Moxie
Katie Symons, Zoe LeBeau
Consultants – LeBeau Development
Additional contributors from the Burnes Center:
Molly Huston – Research Assistant
Stephanie Chassman, MSW – Research Assistant
Jennifer Wilson, MSW – Senior Research Assistant
Dr. Daniel Brisson, PhD – Executive Director
Abby Magnus, MSW – Research Assistant
Loretta Oduro Ayisi – Research Assistant
Jade Huggins – Research Assistant
Royla Rice – Research Assistant
Graphic Design – StorySpring Consulting
http://www.du.edu/burnescenter 2 MEMORANDUM
TO: City of Loveland Staff
CC: City Council members, City of Loveland
FROM: Daniel Brisson, Executive Director
DATE: September 16, 2019
RE: City of Loveland Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness
Congratulations on taking an important step toward development of local and regional strategies to address homelessness. It has been a pleasure working with the City of Loveland staff, elected officials, local service providers, faith representatives, Loveland citizens and those who have experienced homelessness. In particular, we would like to express our gratitude for the support of Alison Hade, Rod Wensing and Steve Adams who have been instrumental in our efforts. We are also grateful to the citizens and homelessness service providers in the region who have contributed to this process.
Housing instability and homelessness are issues in almost every community in our country. Limited resources at the local level combined with rising housing costs are placing many households in jeopardy of falling into homelessness. Communities are experiencing growing costs and impacts upon local healthcare systems, law enforcement departments, public parks and libraries as well as local justice systems. We are happy to provide this strategic plan to help guide the Loveland community in deciding, and acting upon, next steps to address issues related to homelessness.
What this plan provides:
Level-setting information to ensure everyone in the community understands the complexity of the issue, impacts upon community and potential solutions
Comprehensive collection of practices from across the country
Overview of sub-populations and research-based engagement strategies
Detailed implementation plan
Resource matrix and narrative with funding and resource information
Strategy recommendations that can address homelessness in Loveland
What this plan does not provide:
Mission, vision and guiding principles – this should be developed by the local community and not project consultants
A specific path but a range of options for consideration in setting priorities to initiate actions to address homelessness
Next steps for the City of Loveland:
The role of local government in addressing homelessness varies across the country. One consistent theme, however, is the importance of involvement from city elected officials and government employees who can actively participate as part of the solution. Recognizing that many cities are limited in capacity and funding to address complex human needs, cities have taken on the roles of convener, facilitator, educator, advocate, and partnership broker as well as leveraging county, state and federal resources to create momentum toward solutions. Elected official roles include: http://www.du.edu/burnescenter 3
- Either directly coordinating or providing resources for the coordination of homeless programs in the community;
- Building local capacity for service providers;
- Identifying land, funding and other resources to support efforts to address homelessness;
- Reviewing land use codes and ordinances to allow for greater flexibility in siting solutions such as shelters, group homes, tiny homes, etc.;
- Re-aligning existing housing and services resources to support a strategic plan;
- Considering new public funding sources such as dedicating a portion of collected sales or lodging taxes to specific strategies; and,
- Directly funding services that are difficult to fund with existing federal and state resources such as street outreach, landlord outreach and unit identification, and data collection and data analysis.
We believe the City of Loveland Staff and City Council have an opportunity to work collaboratively across the county and Northern Colorado region to leverage new and existing resources, to improve county-wide data collection and community education efforts, to increase service and housing agencies capacity and serve as key leaders in moving from debate toward solutions. It is important that community members have the chance to digest the plan and come together to identify needs and prioritize strategies to determine the best path for the community.
As many communities are experiencing, there are costs to inaction. While it is difficult to quantify the impact of homelessness, there is wide recognition that other systems and services in Loveland are affected. Continuing to rely on these systems – law enforcement, health care, justice system, behavioral health – which are not designed to address homelessness, is detrimental to both those experiencing homelessness and the community at-large. Intentionally crafting a homeless services system with greater capacity to serve the breadth of needs in the community can alleviate the stress on these other systems. In addition, this is a far more effective and humane approach to resolve homelessness for individuals and families without housing.
Sincerely,
Daniel Brisson, PhD, MSW
Executive Director | University of Denver, Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness
Professor | University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work http://www.du.edu/burnescenter 4
Executive Summary
Housing instability and homelessness are issues in almost every community in our country. Limited resources at the local level combined with rising housing costs are placing many households in jeopardy of falling into homelessness. Without timely and strategic interventions, communities are experiencing growing costs and impacts upon local healthcare systems, law enforcement departments, public parks and libraries as well as local justice systems.
The City of Loveland, Colorado, is at crossroads regarding the community’s response to the local growing issue of homelessness. Opportunities are on the horizon for the community to become more proactive in addressing the underlying issues that lead to homelessness. “Housing insecurity currently affects almost every community in the nation.
Yet the public lacks a strong sense of connectedness to this problem as a shared social issue or to those who are experiencing housing challenges.” -Frameworks Institute, 2018
Survivor Literacy 
What do you think?