JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — For over a decade, Shelley Long has witnessed the transformative power of community — it has helped countless Arvada residents in need get back on their feet.
Long is the pastor and director of REACH at Grace Church Arvada — which helps community members transitioning to stable housing with support, resources, and a shoulder to lean on.
“Just getting to be with the people on the weekends, somebody who knows their name,” said Long, “That next step of somebody being there to encourage them, to chat with them every day. How's it going to walk through the discouragement and to celebrate the wins? That's huge."
But the latest numbers from Jefferson County highlight the magnitude of the task ahead for nonprofits like REACH.
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Homelessness in Jefferson County increased 27% in the last year, with one in two individuals experiencing homelessness for the first time — the largest jump in the metro area, according to county leaders.
This increase comes as the county faces reduced cold-weather shelter availability.
“Over the past couple seasons of cold weather, there were options available for sheltering that we knew were not going to be available this season,” said Jefferson County Regional Homeless Coordinator Kerry Wrenick.
Finding ways to keep the unhoused population safe during the cold-weather months became a priority for county leaders throughout the year.
“If we serve somebody in Lakewood, it doesn't mean they're not going to go to Arvada that evening. We're all serving the same population and so pooling everything together seems like the most reasonable response to that, proportionally,” said Wrenick.
Arvada, Edgewater, Golden, Lakewood, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, and Jefferson County recently signed a one-year intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to collaborate on cold weather shelter services this winter. Together, they have pooled just over $2 million for emergency sheltering.
The funding will pay for motel vouchers, to be distributed by homeless navigators 72 hours before severe weather hits. If temperatures drop into the single digits or lower, they'll also deploy extreme-weather mobile shelters through different parts of the county.
While the regional winter shelter response addresses immediate needs, county leaders acknowledged the need for long-term solutions.
"We need a solution to the winter season right now, but we have to have a tangent solution long-term for addressing homelessness as a region, and so I continue to work with our city and county managers on what that longer-term solution looks like," Wrenick said.
Long praised the collaborative effort among local governments.
After all, it's just another piece of the puzzle as they work together to lessen homelessness in the county.
"I think the city and county are really trying to put their finger on all of the resources that we have here in our area that can work together," Long said. "I'm so glad that they keep working at this. This next step for severe weather, I'm glad that they're figuring that out."
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