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<br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
<br />In February of 2016 the Boulder County Consortium of Cities
<br />and the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness Board of Directors
<br />engaged the Community Strategies Institute to provide an
<br />assessment of the need for Permanent Supportive Housing
<br />throughout Boulder County, focused on chronically homeless
<br />individuals. The assessment was to identify the number of
<br />chronically homeless individuals in Boulder County and provide
<br />a profile of their needs, identify current resources available to
<br />these individuals, identify barriers and challenges to development
<br />of permanent housing solutions for these residents, and identify
<br />the types of properties and projects that could be developed in
<br />Boulder County to meet housing needs.
<br />The permanent supportive housing needs assessment plan called
<br />for completing the following tasks:
<br />✓ reviewing local plans, data, reports that pertain to housing
<br />and homeless needs and local planning and zoning within
<br />Boulder County; CSI completed the review of over 50
<br />local documents for this task;
<br />✓ CSI performed key informant interviews with homeless
<br />service providers, shelter operators, housing authorities,
<br />local planning departments, data resources and local
<br />government staff;
<br />✓ CSI reviewed all homeless data sources from agencies,
<br />governments and coordinating bodies in Boulder County
<br />to create a profile of the chronically homeless in Boulder
<br />County and their need for housing;
<br />✓ CSI identified barriers to development of permanent
<br />supportive housing in Boulder County, including a
<br />regulatory analysis, land use policy analysis, housing
<br />market analysis, and land and development cost analysis;
<br />✓ CSI identified policy and regulatory changes necessary
<br />to overcome barriers to developing more permanent
<br />supportive housing in Boulder County communities;
<br />✓ CSI reviewed current real estate listings for land, hotels,
<br />and commercial buildings, current and future
<br />redevelopment plans and other potential parcels for
<br />creating new permanent supportive housing units or
<br />facilities, and created six example site analysis for various
<br />types of properties;
<br />✓ CSI conducted best practices research using information
<br />obtained from key informants and from an extensive
<br />review of the literature discussing programs and plans
<br />to provide permanent supportive housing to chronically
<br />homeless populations. CSI has included seven Best
<br />Practices write ups as part of this report.
<br />✓ CSI is including a range of charts and documents which
<br />provide background information and data which has
<br />been used to guide the findings of this report.
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<br />The Boulder County Consortium of Cities provides an organizational structure
<br />to promote interaction and communication among local governments for the
<br />benefit of the organizations and their residents.
<br />Boulder County
<br />City of Boulder
<br />Town of Erie
<br />Town of Jamestown
<br />City of Lafayette
<br />City of Longmont
<br />City of Louisville
<br />Town of Lyons
<br />Town of Nederland
<br />Town of Superior
<br />Town of Ward
<br />Broomfield (non-voting)
<br />CSI has prepared a final report with conclusions about the need
<br />for permanent supportive housing throughout Boulder County,
<br />the barriers to creating permanent supportive housing oppor-
<br />tunities in Boulder County, and recommendations for action.
<br />The recommendations for action cover multiple areas including
<br />regulations, development incentives, policy and practice ap-
<br />proaches, financing models and incentives for developers. A
<br />summary of recommended actions follows below:
<br />✓ Municipal Comprehensive Plans should be expanded to
<br />specifically elucidate affordable housing needs and
<br />Permanent Supportive Housing needs countywide.
<br />✓ Flexibility in the application of various zoning and
<br />development regulations should be emphasized to
<br />planning and review officials. This flexibility is encouraged
<br />under Fair Housing laws and the Americans with
<br />Disabilities Act.
<br />✓ Use of the group home model may provide an expedient
<br />and cost effective approach that would house some
<br />chronically homeless individuals more quickly than the
<br />timeframe needed for new construction of supportive
<br />housing units.
<br />✓ An inventory of potential development sites should be
<br />maintained at the municipal level. This inventory should
<br />be updated regularly and include potential development
<br />and redevelopment sites controlled by local government
<br />and tax exempt organizations in the county.
<br />✓ In the City of Boulder, the redevelopment of the former
<br />Community Hospital complex may offer opportunity to
<br />include PSH dwellings in the redevelopment. If not, there
<br />may be other publicly controlled parcels that will become
<br />surplus as a result of the redevelopment of the hospital
<br />site.
<br />✓ A county wide effort to address chronic homelessness
<br />could open new possibilities for dispersal of PSH in
<br />communities which may have greater land availability.
<br />A county wide effort linked with agreements for resource
<br />sharing may also be an effective way to link financial
<br />resources with potential development opportunities.
<br />✓ Addressing the housing shortage for chronically homeless
<br />individuals, families and youth is a capital intensive
<br />endeavor. The development costs for new construction
<br />are equal to or greater than the cost for construction of
<br />new affordable or market rate apartments. At the same
<br />time, the future tenants of such housing, will have little
<br />money to contribute for rent payments. In order to create,
<br />financially viable housing facilities, there will be no room
<br />for mortgages or payable loans in the financing structure.
<br />✓ The Housing First approach for Permanent Supportive
<br />Housing has demonstrated cost savings to communities
<br />because chronically homeless households decrease their
<br />utilization of other publicly funded services such as police,
<br />jails, emergency rooms and the courts.
<br />There is a need for additional permanent supportive housing
<br />units for chronically homeless individuals, youth living on their
<br />own, and families throughout Boulder County. Strategies for
<br />meeting these needs vary depending upon the population being
<br />served and the community where service is needed. The housing
<br />market in all Boulder County communities is expensive, and a
<br />lack of affordable housing opportunities for low income, working
<br />class, and middle income households is a challenge. This chal-
<br />lenge is even greater for those Boulder residents who are or
<br />have been homeless.
<br />Development costs and land availability to develop any kind of
<br />housing are also a challenge in Boulder County, and again, these
<br />challenges are greater for agencies trying to provide housing
<br />for the lowest income residents who often have little ability to
<br />pay rent. Chronically homeless residents require services, which
<br />are an additional cost that homeless and housing providers
<br />much budget for when planning to build, acquire or rehabilitate
<br />housing units. Therefore, most permanent supportive housing
<br />units or housing assistance programs are not built or acquired
<br />using any debt, and must have operating subsidies to cover
<br />property operating costs, and subsidies to provide client services.
<br />The cost to acquire land on the free market, the cost of existing
<br />buildings and units, and to construct new housing in Boulder
<br />County require providers to seek and secure multiple sources
<br />of local, state and federal equity and subsidies to bring these
<br />projects to fruition.
<br />Despite these and other challenges, including NIMBY (not in
<br />my backyard), homeless and housing providers are moving
<br />forward with plans to build, acquire, and subsidize new perma-
<br />nent supportive housing units throughout Boulder County.
<br />These current efforts, and a coordinated effort among all Boulder
<br />jurisdictions and state agencies, can reduce the number of
<br />chronically homeless individuals living on the streets, in cars,
<br />and in shelters in Boulder County and greatly improve the lives
<br />of these individuals and families.
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