Denver Launching Innovative Effort to Identify, Prioritize and House the City’s Most Vulnerable Homeless
Outreach workers and volunteers will be trained and deployed on the streets to index next week
DENVER, CO — February 5, 2010 – Denver Homeless Outreach is working with volunteers and Common Ground, a non-profit dedicated to ending homelessness, to launch an innovative approach to identify and house Denver’s most vulnerable homeless individuals. The approach of prioritizing the most vulnerable individuals — those most at-risk of dying — for housing and services has been incredibly successful in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and other communities across the country.
Homeless outreach workers from the St. Francis Center, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Urban Peak will use an index to identify the most at risk homeless individuals. The index ranks individuals’ vulnerability by verifying that the person has been on the streets at least six months and evaluating eight risk factors, which include:
· End Stage Renal Disease
· History of Cold Weather Injuries
· Liver Disease or Cirrhosis
· HIV+ / AIDS
· Over 60 years old
· Three of more emergency room visits in prior three months
· Three or more emergency room or hospitalizations in prior year
· Combination of mental illness, substance abuse and chronic disease
Denver is one of the cities at the vanguard of utilizing this innovative new approach. Common Ground is working with a core group of cities over the next six months with the goal of establishing momentum to launch a national effort to house the 100,000 most vulnerable people.
“We are proud that Denver is at the forefront of finding innovative new solutions to solve homelessness,” Katie Symons, Denver homeless outreach coordinator said. “This project ties into Denver’s Road Home commitment to evaluate and assess our efforts in achieving our goals, while being accountable to our community. Denver’s Road Home goal in Year 5 includes a 75 percent reduction in chronic homelessness and this new project will help us in reaching that goal.”
The Vulnerability Index is comprised of 32 questions related to personal information, housing history and health history. Denver hopes to use information gathered to house 280 homeless individuals over the next year, with a focus on the most vulnerable and the chronically homeless.
Media are asked to RSVP to Media Coordinator Jamie Glennon at 720-944-2405 if they plan to attend or participate in any of the following activities next week.
February 8
What: Common Ground and Denver Homeless Outreach workers will train 50 volunteers on how to administer the Common Ground Vulnerability Index.
Time: 3 – 7 p.m.
Location: VOA Administrative Building, 2660 Larimer St., Denver
February 9 -11
What: Outreach workers and volunteers will be deployed on the streets of Denver and in local overflow shelters to administer the Common Ground Vulnerability Index.
Time: 3:30 a.m. – 6:30 a.m.
Location: Various
February 12
What: A community de-brief will occur about information discovered, lessons learned, stories and successes.
Time: 11 a.m. -1 p.m.
Location: VOA Mission, 2877 Lawrence St., Denver
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About Denver’s Road Home
Denver’s Road Home was developed by the Denver Commission to End Homelessness. Over 350 diverse stakeholders served on committees and more than 500 people came together over the course of 18 months to provide recommendations and feedback to the Commission. Denver’s Road Home, a ten year plan to end homelessness in our community, was approved by Mayor Hickenlooper and Denver City Council in 2005. Denver’s Road Home is now in Year Five of its plan. To learn more, visit www.DenversRoadHome.org.
About Common Ground
Common Ground is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending homelessness. Common Ground’s networks of well designed, affordable apartments — linked to the services people need to maintain their housing, restore their health, and regain their economic independence — has enabled more than 4,000 individuals to overcome homelessness. Common Ground strategy focuses on affordable housing, outreach and prevention. To learn more, visit www.commonground.org.
Media Contact:
Jamie Glennon
720-944-2405