State grants will fund shelter services, homeless outreach
The city’s efforts to address homelessness will get a boost in 2024, thanks to two grants from Colorado’s Division of Housing.
On Tuesday, Alison Hade told the City Council that the nearly $800,000 in state money will help launch a street outreach program and support shelter services at the city’s two facilities.
“Once this is appropriated, and we’re able to sign the contract, our intention is to release a request for proposals so that community partners can do the actual work,” Hade told the council.
Among other measures, a street outreach program will engage with unsheltered residents and help get them connected to services, including any medical or behavioral health treatment needed, according to Hade.
The street outreach grant totals $595,000 to be used over three years and will be matched by the city with funding from the nationwide opioid settlement, which will bring around $1 million to Loveland over 18 years.
The opioid funding is part of a 2022 settlement offer to state and local governments made by four pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors accused of contributing to the opioid crisis — Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and Mckesson. The companies agreed to pay a total of $26 billion, $385 million of which is coming to Colorado.
In 2022, the City Council voted to “opt in” to the settlement, rather than ceding its share to Larimer County, which is receiving about $14 million.
The city received the first payment, for $106,000, in early 2023.
Although not specifically targeted at opioid users, street outreach programs are an allowed use of the funds, Hade explained.
The requests for proposal for a street outreach agency will be released once the money has been received, Hade said.
She went on to explain that the city attempted to find a street outreach partner last year, while the grant award was still pending, but no agency responded. However, she is expecting to get more takers this time around, after talking to some local nonprofits.
“We didn’t have any takers, and it was because we were asking for something that was bigger than any one organization felt that they were able to take on,” Hade said.
“We’re still looking at asking for the moon, but it would be a collaboration between organizations where they could bring in the work that they are already doing,” instead of needing to expand their staffs.
The city also will be receiving a $200,000 grant from the state that will be used to support operations at the Loveland Resources Center on South Lincoln Avenue and the overnight shelter on the South Railroad Avenue.