Homelessness & Housing Services Plan

Client: City of Greeley, Colorado

Type: Community Engagement | Research | GIS | Urban Planning | Branding & Marketing

December 2021 - June 2022

In 2020, a small group of stakeholders, including City representatives and local non-profits, began meeting to discuss addressing homelessness and affordable housing issues facing the community. Through their conversations, they began to envision a long-term community solution to housing our community's most vulnerable through developing a service-based campus within the cities of Greeley and Evans. The group toured the area's current Housing Navigation Center and Cold Weather Shelter located in Evans (managed through United Way of Weld County), brainstormed potential housing models, and toured the Arroyo Village campus in Denver. As a result, the City of Greeley created a scope of services to solicit a 3rd party consultant to gather and evaluate housing data, examine demand drivers, determine market and financial viability and feasibility, and estimate capital and operating costs for possible sheltering and housing alternatives.

In August 2021, the City released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to consider possible sheltering and housing alternatives. The RFP includes a detailed index of supplemental resources, including a resource partners list, comparative campus models, additional shelter/services/projects in the Northern Colorado Region, and other documents.

In November 2021, the City finalized a contract with Urbanity Advisors to complete this work. The City of Greeley projected the anticipated timeline for scoping and assessing possible sheltering and housing alternatives to be approximately six months, with consultant work beginning in December 2021. The contract stated the following tasks for Urbanity Advisors:

• Evaluating existing sources of information;

• Analyzing what might be driving demand locally and regionally;

• Evaluating best practices, project size, and possible locations;

• Providing opportunities for engagement and public involvement;

• Estimating development and ongoing operating costs;

• Outline financial feasibility, funding options, and critical next steps.