AURORA | The new Aurora Navigation Campus for homeless people is off to a rough start, with sewage backups and reports of “chaotic rules” and moving goalposts.
“I have been sent deeply concerning photos of the Navigation Center,” Aurora School Board member Kristin Mallory Westerberg said during Monday’s meeting. “This is a space where we were promised would offer dignity, safety and real pathways to jobs and permanent housing for our unhoused neighbors.
Instead, Westerberg and others say they’ve seen photos showing soiled towels left on the floor, sewer plumbing issues that appear unresolved, food waste on the ground and meals that fall far short of what anyone would consider “dignified or humane.”
The number of residents staying in the main, overnight shelter was not available at press time.
Westerberg spoke during public comment right before the city council was about to allocate state and federal grant funding for additional staffing funds for Advance Pathways, the nonprofit operator of the Navigation Campus.
A contract funding item was called up by Councilmember Alison Coombs, in order for city council to ask staff about the issue at the campus, which has been reported by multiple sources to council members, including a scathing review of the conditions and lack of professional know-how from the operators.
“After 31 days of operation, the Aurora Regional Navigation Center (ARNC) has proven to be less of a ‘navigation’ center and more of a rudderless ship in a maze of frustration, sinking in a sea of administrative incompetence,” Demetrius Rayden Johnson said in a review of the campus.
In the review, he described a moving goalpost of people never making it to the “mythical phase two,” the “‘moving carrot’ of progress,” Johnson called it.
He explained constant calls for emergency services for overdoses, unchecked drug use in the facility, tension and daily altercations, daily procedural changes, and security enforcing rules not finalized by the administration.
Coombs asked city legal officials whether the city can withhold payment to contractor Advance Pathways if lawmakers deem them unable to meet requirements in the contract.
Much of this has been confirmed by Sentinel sources on the campus.
The $38 million 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 first cubicles and eventually rooms at the former hotel.
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.
During Monday’s city council meeting, concern for the living standards reported to the city council was bipartisan, and although city council approved to move forward in funding Advance Pathways, they warned of ongoing scrutiny.
Coombs said her concerns lie not only with the sewage, which she was told was being addressed, but also with people not being properly provided with the basic services promised to them. She was told that people were not being appropriately directed to case management, that phase two is inoperable, and people with disabilities are not being allowed to move to phase two and are expected to continue sleeping on the cots.
Additional concerns raised by community members, Coombs said, besides the plumbing, were the lack of functioning bathrooms, access to basic hygiene items like toilet paper, and the fact that the washing machines and dryers available to people in phase one were not functioning or accessible.
“So the basic level of services that are a part of the contract are not, it sounds like, being provided from testimony of folks that are there at the facility,” Coombs said.
City staff acknowledged many of the issues but attributed them largely to ongoing construction and the phased opening of the facility. According to Director of Housing and Community Services Jessica Prosser, the campus opened before construction was fully completed to provide shelter during cold weather.
Tier Two, which had been delayed due to lock and construction issues, opened in mid-to-late December, Prosser said. Stephanie Keiper, Manager of Homelessness Behavioral Health, said that more than 34 individuals had successfully transitioned from Tier One to Tier Two, with additional transitions ongoing.
“All the items you just expressed actually were on our agenda this afternoon when we met with them, to be addressed, so they are coming through,” Prosser said. “(Advance Pathways) is still working on having full operations set up with all of the different parts of the facility that are within their agreement. We just transitioned the building over to them at the end of December.”
Advance Pathways is also still hiring case managers and management staff, though security positions are reportedly fully staffed, Kieper said. The city holds weekly meetings with the operator, will receive monthly and quarterly performance reports, and has established a grievance process for residents and neighbors, she said.
Councilmember Angela Lawson demanded an answer to when the toilet issue would be fixed, and city staff said it could be by the end of the week. Keiper said there are currently eight portable toilets available, two of which are ADA accessible. Prosser also said that people in the shelter can walk to other parts of the campus where the plumbing is working.
City council members such as Coombs, Stephanie Hancock, Françoise Bergan, Lawson and Gianina Horton confirmed that scrutiny will continue until the campus is functioning in compliance with the operation agreement the city holds with Advance Pathways.
“Dignity is not optional,” Westerberg said Monday. “It is not a bonus. It is the baseline.”
OK. So the center is open now and the logistics are showing their ugly heads: lack of basic services, such as functioning bathrooms, hygiene items, and washing machines. Those ‘cots’ in the great area are ridiculous. Should people be screened for drugs….I think so. Should there be security on site. Absolutely. Come on new council get with the program, huh?