Aurora opens ‘hybrid’ homeless campus with health care, jobs, and housing

AURORA | Community leaders from Aurora and the region celebrated the grand opening of the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, a new facility designed to help homeless people reach their personal, highest level of self-sufficiency through what proponents say is a hybrid approach to addressing homelessness.

The former Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center on the northeast Aurora and Denver border  has been transformed into a support hub offering shelter, health care, employment services and pathways to permanent housing.

“This facility will embody a people-focused, progress-driven approach to homelessness that empowers and prepares people to come through these doors to improve their circumstances, not a handout, but a hand up,” Mayor Mike Coffman said.

The project was made possible through House Bill 22-1378, which created a $50 million grant program to develop regional navigation campuses across the Denver metro area. Aurora received $15.4 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to purchase and renovate the facility, with additional funding from Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties, each contributing federal American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA dollars.

Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera said the project is a model of collaboration.

“A facility that represents hope, dignity and a true commitment to serving some of our state’s most vulnerable residents,” she said. “Residents will have access to not just a bed for the night, but vital health care, including medical respite beds in an on-site clinic, case management, employment supports and a path to independence.”

Primavera said Aurora’s center joins four other regional facilities and reflects “a Colorado where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”

The massive renovation turned the hotel, at 15500 E. 40th Ave., near Chambers Road and Interstate 70, into a multi-tiered program designed to move participants from homeless crisis to self-sufficiency.

The campus is what city officials refer to as a “hybrid model” offering a “no strings” homeless shelter and, in addition, on the same campus, work-first housing in rooms at the former hotel. Numerous vetted studies over more than a decade insist that so-called “housing-first” programs are more effective at getting people off the streets and moving toward long-term self-sufficiency than so-called “work first” programs. Proponents of “housing-first” approaches argue that immediate stability provided by getting off the streets makes drug and alcohol rehabilitation and job attainment more successful. 

Homelessness experts say this type of “hybrid” approach requires more studies to understand effectiveness. 

Coffman said the facility is a huge achievement and credited Elly Watson, assistant director of Public Works, Allison Zamaitis, the former grants compliance officer for Aurora, Emma King, homeless division manager and Jessica Prosser, director of housing and community services, among the city’s staff  for bringing the project to life.

“We’re grateful to every partner who made this possible,” he said. “This building has come a long way from being a hotel just last year.”

The city selected non-profit organization Advance Pathways as the site operator after a competitive bid process. The group also runs the Aurora Day Resource Center and brings, as Coffman called it, “a holistic, accountability-based approach.”

Advance Pathways CEO Jim Geobelbecker said the center is built on three philosophies, he calls “tiers”: compassion, courage, and commitment.

Tier One is called the “compassion” level and aims to meet basic needs with few requirements from those accepting the basic shelter services. This tier is displayed as a shelter, restructuring large conference rooms into spacious rooms with cots, lockers and bathroom and showering spaces. 

There are 285 cots.

Tier Two, called the “courage” level, requires engaging with case managers and peer coaches. In this tier, people move from cots to beds in large dorm-like spaces with additional storage and cubby space, and they are called pods. The beds are built with walls on three or four sides for a little extra privacy.  

There are 114 pods.

Tier Three is called the “commitment” level and offers long-term, independent living additional commitments, including a requirement to hold a full-time job. This tier allows individuals to move into single and two-bed hotel rooms on the campus. People in this tier are given a separate entrance, private parking, and a shared kitchenette/living room with a fridge, microwave and televisions. 

There are 220 rooms in tier three, some of which are used for staff. The campus’s capacity for those using the entire shelter is 600 people.

“We believe in earning your way forward,” Geobelbecker said. 

The campus includes a computer room with job-finding resources and employees who will help with resume building, job hunting and other job-related resources. There is the “navigation center,” a large resource room for people who need identification paperwork, job certifications, such as bloodborne pathogen certification to help become a janitor, and certifications in video and drone, HVAC, flagging, forklift and doula work through Pride Initiative. 

There are also dental services, health resources, GED classes through the Aurora Library, compassion rides, bus passes, Arapahoe/Douglas works for jobs resources, a detox center, HEART court diversion program through Aurora, Dogstar holistic work for mediation and yoga, along with a dog sitting center. 

Dog sitting is free, including quarantine, veterinary services, food, grooming, a dog run, and animal training, as long as each owner volunteers three hours a week in the dog area. 

“We don’t want to separate people from their family,” Jessica MacDonald, an Advance support coach, said. 

The campus will have a single entry point with a security scanner for weapons. Geobelbecker said there will be no drug screening or curfew for people in tiers one and two upon entry, although they are not allowed to bring in drugs or alcohol, and those substances will be confiscated. He said the goal is to give people some form of structure they may want.

There is drug and alcohol screening for tiers two and three in their respective programs, and tier three has its own private entryway with separate security. 

There is also a lot of outdoor space at the facility for smokers and outdoor exercise, and Geobelbecker said that, down the road, he hopes to put in a basketball court and a community garden. Advance also kept the hotel gym and grand piano for personal use. 

The philosophy of “hand-up” not “hand out”  is built on second chances, with a no-strike system for infractions. People will be asked to leave if they do not follow the rules, but they will be allowed back. 

Some jobs will be offered on campus, such as janitorial work, but there are no work-for-stay jobs. The majority of people will be encouraged to seek work outside the campus to achieve their “highest level of self-sufficiency.” Officials said that people with disabilities and older adults will only be required to work as much as they can. 

There is also no limit on the length of people’s stays. People will be working with social workers to secure housing away from the campus, but it will be at their own pace. 

There will be 62 staff working on the campus and 10 security personnel. About 85% of its staff are in some version of recovery themselves and serve as peer mentors.

“This work isn’t just about services,” Geobelbecker said.  “It’s about reshaping lives and neighborhoods. Right now, we want to be able to provide the tools, the structure and the belief in their own potential. Each person we work with, we want them to be able to move forward and stay forward.”

He said individuals at the campus will have access to job training, including janitorial certification and culinary programs, with the first cohort beginning later this month.

Chantelle Anderson, Advance Pathways’ director of programs, shared her personal story of addiction, homelessness and recovery, and why the program relies on people with lived experiences.

“I like to share a piece of my story, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s proof that no matter how far you fall, there’s always a way to rise again,” Anderson said. “I lived in survival mode, slept under stairs, behind dumpsters, wherever I could find warmth. I’d stop at shelters long enough to shower, get a meal and then go back outside, for I found it safer to be on the streets than in the shelter as a woman.”

Anderson’s journey, from homelessness to leading recovery programs, illustrates the very mission of the Navigation Campus: finding your way in your own time.

She said she faced abuse, addiction and incarceration. In her darkest moments, she held onto hope because she wanted to get her children back after losing them to drug addiction and homelessness. 

“No one sits in a position of power to look down on you,” Anderson said. “Sometimes we just need someone to believe in us long enough for us to believe in ourselves again.”

The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus officially opens Nov. 17, welcoming its first guests into what leaders hope will become a national model for addressing homelessness. On the same day, the Aurora Day Resource Center on the Fitzsimons campus will completely close its location.

“Colorado and Aurora continue to step up. You’re demonstrating that ending homelessness is not just possible, it’s imperative,” said Lt. Gov. Primavera. “This campus is more than a building, it’s a lifeline, and together, we’re creating a Colorado where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”