Rising rents and property values along the Front Range are putting more families at the doorstep of homelessness.
Single-family in metro Denver in 2015, with the average monthly rent on a single-family home with three bedrooms in the metro area climbing to $1,998 in the third quarter, a 13.9 percent increase from the same period of 2014.
“There are a lot more families, people who have never been homeless before are becoming homeless at the time of renewing leases because of increases in rents and costs of housing,” said Angela Bornemann, executive director of Access Housing Inc., which serves Adams County.
Access Housing is a Commerce City-based nonprofit that provides temporary shelter, transitional housing and resources to people, many of them families, who are struggling to find homes and make rent.
Many of Bornemann’s clients are both families and newly homeless, she said.
Tisha Medina was there. She moved out of a homeless shelter in Commerce City with her 1-year-old daughter at the end of October. With the help of Access Housing, she has her own apartment in Thornton.
“I’m so happy to be here,” Medina said. “When you don’t have a place to go, it’s stressful, especially with a child. It’s amazing that everything came into place the way it did for us. (Access) made everything so easy for me.”
“She saved her money like she’s supposed to. She worked the program right,” said Diane Alarid, Medina’s case manager with Access Housing. She said Medina pays 30 percent of her income toward rent at her two-bedroom apartment, and Access picks up the rest.
A 2015 Point-In-Time Report by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative surveyed the seven-county metro area, including Adams County, and found nearly one-quarter (24.5 percent ) of all homeless — 1,500 persons — were considered newly homeless.
Of the newly homeless, over half (52.6 percent), or 789 people, were living in homeless conditions with their children.
Of the 572 Adams County homeless survey respondents, 357 were families with children.
“We are seeing an increase of homelessness in Adams County, particularly families,” Bornemann said. “Rents and rates of housing are increasing, while wages are staying the same. It’s affecting a lot of people.”
Access started in Commerce City in 1983 after mass layoffs from local gas companies put dozens of families on the streets or in danger of losing their homes.
The nonprofit uses a variety of programs, including emergency housing, rent subsidies, vouchers and permanent housing in units, owned by Access and rented to low-income families.
Access offers educational and life experience courses to help clients with budgeting incomes as well as financial counseling.
It also offers help for people who have substance abuse, or mental health issues, which may have contributed to their path toward homelessness.
In 2015, Access, which has a $700,000 annual budget, was hit by financial turbulence. Two employees were laid off, and there are currently five remaining. Access owns 25 low-income rental units for its clients, but it sold two units last year to help balance operating costs.
Access typically shelters about 45 to 50 families annually, with the average length of stay about 60 days.
For Medina, homelessness was a half-expected repercussion of her decision to move herself and her daughter, Libbery, from California to Colorado to find work. When Libbery was about 5 months old, Medina lived with her older brother in Commerce City until she decided to move to Access’ temporary shelter in order to get into supportive service programs there.
“As a single mother, I don’t make what I need to afford a living here,” Medina said. “It’s hard.”
Not all client families need immediate shelter. Some receive rental assistance toward residences they are already in, but would lose because of rising costs, and some receive hotel vouchers for emergency and short-term shelter.
In 2014, 78 Adams County families received hotel vouchers, and 87 families received rental assistance.
The program works with partners to help families become self-sufficient and get into affordable and permanent housing.
Access receives federal, state and local funding, as well as funding from private donors.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or @kierannicholson
YourHub reporter Megan Mitchell contributed to this report.
Access housing of adams county
In operation since: 1983
Number served 2014: Gave 87 families rental assistance, 78 families hotel vouchers and served 45 families in their in-house emergency shelter
Staff: 5
Yearly budget: $700,000
Percent of funds given directly to clients and services: 65 percent
