Helping break the cycle of nicotine

ing, food sources and other services.

“Our goals are to reduce duplication of services,” Montoya said. She added:

“We’re also hoping to improve transitions between levels of care and care types.

So, for example, if a client is discharging from the hospital, we’re hoping to improve that transition back to the community by wrapping them around with supports and services.”

“My work is to coordinate (the) partners and bring everyone together to make sure we all are on the same page,” she added.

Of the program’s clients, 71% were homeless or at risk of homelessness — about 47% were homeless, and 24% were at risk.

“ e vast majority of our folks are relying on Social Security disability or Social Security income (to) meet their nancial needs,” Montoya said of the clients with housing needs.

About “21% are unemployed, and I mention that because some folks are trying to get back into employment and need mental health stabilization to get to that point,” she said of the clients with housing needs.

Many of the clients with housing needs were dealing with mental health challenges, substance use disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities, or reported traumatic brain injuries — or sometimes two or more of those, Montoya said.

People are referred to the program by its partners but also by family members, Montoya said.

About 67% of all the homeless clients secured long-term housing, she said. And 40% of the clients at risk of homelessness “sustained” their housing, meaning they were able to connect with services ornancial support to prevent eviction or loss of housing.

“Of the housing connections we’ve been able to make for folks … most frequently it’s assisted living facilities,” Montoya said, because of the clients’ needs. In some cases, that’s a temporary setting, she added.

Hundreds of contacts e nonpro t received a federal grant last year for a street outreach team — workers who approach people in need. at program launched last year and is active in Arapahoe and Douglas counties, an AllHealth sta member told the committee at the meeting. e team collaborates with Douglas County’s Homeless Engagement, Assistance and Resource Team, or HEART, which began in mid-September. ( e county began collecting data on HEART in October.)

AllHealth, the nonpro t, also plays a role in addressing homelessness in the south metro area.

From October to February, 602 referrals have been submitted to HEART, according to county spokesperson Wendy Holmes. ose resulted in the following outcomes:

• In 208 cases, people were contacted and received services.

• 228 cases were “informationonly” referrals.

• 102 cases were listed as “unable to locate.”

• 54 were listed as “not cooperative.”

• 10 were listed as “unoccupied camps.”

In February, three HEART clients were assisted with housing searches, and six clients received hotel vouchers, Ti any Marsitto, a supervisor with HEART, told the committee during the March 9 meeting.

Population can be di cult to track Douglas County saw a drop in the number of people experiencing homelessness who were counted as part of the Denver metro area’s an- nual snapshot of the unhoused this year compared to last, according to early data the county presented in early February.

Each year, typically in January, volunteers and sta from sources such as nonpro ts and local governments team up in communities across the Denver metro area, and areas around the nation, to conduct the Point in Time count of their region’s homeless population. is year’s metro Denver count started the evening of Jan. 30 and ran into the next morning.

In Douglas County, o cials quickly presented early data from this year’s count. ey highlighted that the overall number of homeless dropped to 57, down from 78 last year, with the count of unsheltered homeless dropping to 27, down from 50.

In 2020, Douglas County’s overall count — sheltered and unsheltered — was 53. In 2019, that number was 14, and in 2018, it was 34. ( e metro area did not count unsheltered homeless in 2021 due to COVID-19 safety concerns.)

Because the Point in Time count generally takes place on a single night and can be a ected by weather or other variables, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative does not recommend looking at data trends year over year, although the count remains an often-cited statistic.

County o cials have heralded the drop in Douglas County’s Point in Time numbers as indicating a decrease in overall homelessness in the county.

But large percentage shifts are more likely in Douglas County, where the annual count tends to be in double digits. By contrast, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties’ 2022 tallies each sat at about 500. In Denver, the number was about 4,800. Also complicating the picture: People without homes don’t always stay in the same area. And widening the time period beyond a single night can provide a di erent picture.

Of the people referred to HEART in February, 106 of those were unduplicated, or unique, individuals.

“To let you know, those were not new homeless individuals; they were new to the month of February,”

Marsitto said. “It (could be someone) we worked with in the past, we weren’t able to contact them for a month and then they came back.”

Helping a man back on his feet e team “was able to help him apply for food stamps (assistance) and health insurance right where he was,” Marisitto said.

Marsitto shared a recent HEART success story of a man who was panhandling — he said he had been homeless for more than 40 years. e man said he had some belongings stolen from him, Marsitto said.

During a follow-up meeting, the man said he had a potential job opportunity out of state.

Greg Matthews, a HEART sta er, reached out to one of the team’s faith-based partners, which purchased a Greyhound bus ticket to get the man to his destination.

“ e faith-based partner also put him up in a hotel the night before he departed so he could have a warm place to stay and a shower so he could … start his employment,” Marsitto said.