AURORA | After a series of setbacks, the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus is working to fix its structural issues and improve the experience for the homeless people staying at the shelter facility.
Over the last three months, the Navigation Campus has seen a drop in 911 calls linked to the center and made progress mitigating mold in some of the housing, which had caused it to temporarily close. To keep an eye on the progress of the campus, city council will soon consider adopting accountability measures and performance expectations.
In a July 21 presentation to a city council committee, Jim Goebelbecker, CEO of Advance Pathways, which operates the campus, said emergency calls declined 24% in the second quarter of the year. From April to June, 435 calls for service were made, compared to 569 calls in the first three months of the year.
During the same time, the Navigation Campus served an average of 234 people each day, with nearly 300 people staying each night.
An hourly breakdown of when calls are made shows that fewer calls are made when the facility’s health clinic partner is on site, Goebelbecker said. He said the campus is working to expand the hours of the clinic services to hopefully alleviate even more calls.
In the second quarter, there were 621 clinic visits and 385 referrals to other providers.
“It clearly shows the impact that Stride has and, I’ll say more broadly, the impact of having medical services — to be able to provide the basic assessment of needs and satisfy those or refer them accordingly — is fewer people going to the emergency room, which is significant,” Goebelbecker said.
Stride Community Health Center operates daily weekday hours to provide medical services at the Navigation Campus.
The campus has also been working to fix some issues with the building and has completed mold mitigation in its Tier 3 housing, which has been temporarily closed. Now, the rooms are in the process of being rebuilt, according to the July presentation.
The shelter, formerly a 255-room Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference center, uses a tier-system, where Tier 1 housing is an emergency shelter, Tier 2 provides more privacy with personal pod spaces and Tier 3 offers a personal room. Tiers 2 and 3 come with requirements, including engaging with a case manager and having a job.
In addition to the mold mitigation, the campus hired a contractor to replace the roof over Tier 3.
From April to June, Tier 1 housing averaged 232 people per night and Tier 2 housing averaged 64 people per night, according to shelter records. The day center served more than 6,800 people in the second quarter.
Other than housing, the campus also provides services in partnership with community organizations. Goebelbecker said 210 guests are engaged in case management and 42 are enrolled in WorkBridge, which is a skills development program.
In order to keep track of campus operations and determine its success, Councilmember Gianina Horton introduced a plan to establish accountability metrics and performance expectations.
The plan addresses intake, case management and referrals; onsite services; staffing and training requirements; safety and operational protocols; performance evaluation and data reporting; community engagement; and financial accountability and reporting.
The campus would give an initial comprehensive six-month report and then report its data to the city quarterly.
“This resolution, in my perspective, really aims to tighten up some of the metrics so that as city leadership, we understand what’s being met, what’s not being met, where we’re at, where we’re going and to be able to face the public and say this is well spent taxpayer dollars on this new and innovative effort that the city is doing,” Horton said at the June housing committee meeting, where she introduced the plan.
Horton said she worked with Goebelbecker and city staff to create the plan. City staff said it’s already compiling most of the requested information, but the reports would present it all in one place.
The accountability plan has not yet been put on a city council agenda.
But, NO KINGS!
The attention given to the homeless in this city is astounding.
What’s the plan for when the city is out of money and needs to close more city facilities? Do the golf courses go first? Or the fire stations? Or this Campus?
Please realize that the three ballot measures to jack up the sales tax rate Council has sent to the November ballot would only cover 13% of the capital need. Meanwhile nothing is planned to seriously revitalize the retail and dining economy in Aurora. Council is too busy with higher priorities(?!?!)
Where is the f—-ing leadership in this city?
All this sounds good, but, just how many have been able to transition out and go into their own ‘homes’ ? I’m suspecting the answer is NONE