Tim Mackay sits for a portrait on his bed in his home at the Pallet home lot on Sixth Avenue, August 26, 2022. Mackay has lived in this home since the shelter location opened. He says the homes are “a lot better than being in the unpredicatble elements.” 
Plastic flowers in a makeshift garden outside one of the pallet shelters brings color to the otherwise monochromatic surroundings of the 56 pallet homes that are located near Chambers Road and Sixth Avenue. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
56 Pallet homes sit in a lot near Chambers Road and Sixth Avenue. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Senitnel Colorado 
The inside of Tim Mackay’s home is decorated from floor to ceiling with a variety of collectibles Mackay says it helps change break up the scenery of the monochromatic 56 pallet homes him feel like a kid again. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Words of encouragement reading “Nothing is permanent in this world not even our troubles,” in concrete at the lot where 56 Pallet homes are located near Chambers Road and Sixth Avenue. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
56 Pallet homes sit in a lot near Chambers Road and Sixth Avenue. The interior of the pallet homes include a heater and window unit air conditioner. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
AURORA | More temporary housing for Aurora’s homeless population was completed at two Salvation Army sites this week, offering a shot at stability for some of those displaced during homeless camp sweeps.
The 30 new Pallet shelters — individual, prefabricated housing units measuring 8 feet by 8 feet — are being reserved specifically to those impacted by sweeps.
The shelters will be able to accommodate a relatively small number of the city’s 600-plus homeless residents and only a fraction of those on the waitlist for the Pallet shelters set up earlier this year and last year, though the waitlist for the new units will be managed separately.
Sponsors of the shelters say they’re an island of stability, where people can feel comfortable getting their feet underneath them before moving on to permanent housing.
“A good portion of the folks we’ve been talking to have been really excited about it and have already expressed interest in wanting to come and stay at these Pallet shelters,” said Emma Knight, the manager of Aurora’s homelessness division, during a tour of some of the new shelters on Friday.
City Council members who argued for stepping up sweeps earlier this year said a camping ban would help push the homeless toward established shelter and resources.
While the ban on homeless camping went into effect in mid-May and dozens of campsites have been swept since then, just three people have accepted the city’s offer of shelter at Comitis Crisis Center, according to city spokesman Michael Brannen.
Bob Dorshimer, CEO of the organization that runs Comitis, has also said that displaced campers are simply setting up camp in other areas of the city, rather than moving on to neighboring cities or finding permanent housing.
At the same time, Salvation Army program manager Emily Fuller said the waitlist for Pallet shelters has swelled under the ban — from 86 people in late April to 167 as of Friday.
“We definitely saw our waitlist go up pretty exponentially,” said Austin Foote with the Salvation Army, adding that many homeless people find “very little privacy and dignity” in group shelter, which is the only kind of shelter offered to swept campers through Comitis.
Josh Kerns — public relations manager for the company that makes the small, prefabricated housing units — said they’ve also seen demand increase as more cities adopt camping bans.
“And if you’re going to do that, where are those people going to go?,” he asked. “The problem is so many people don’t want to come into congregate shelter, I would argue, for understandable reasons. You have no privacy. You have to leave every night. You can’t have a dog. You can’t have your family. Zero possessions. And so what’s evolving is this sort of transitional model.”
Salvation Army manages close to 100 Pallet shelters in Aurora, split between its warehouse on Peoria Street and Restoration Christian Ministries on East Sixth Avenue.
A resident of the Pallet shelters at Restoration Christian Ministries since March, Tim Mackay, said the stability and help offered through the program were essential to him securing a housing voucher. After three years of living on the streets in Colorado, Mackay hopes to move into an apartment in a matter of weeks.
“It was a really good invitation to come out here, to have a chance to get a little bit of whatever serenity or whatever peace of mind I could have,” he said. “This has given me the hope that when I do get into my apartment, I will already be geared, because I’ve had the ability to be out here.”
In January, city staffers reported that the average stay at Salvation Army’s Peoria Street community was 80-90 days, with more than one in four finding employment during that time and one in 10 exiting into permanent housing.
Unlike the other Pallet shelters, an individual’s stay in the 30 new shelters will be limited to one week, or up to one month, if that person is engaging with outreach workers, Knight said.
Knight also said the city hopes the new shelters will be a more attractive shelter option than Comitis. She mentioned Salvation Army’s waitlist as proof of the level of interest in the tiny shelters, which can accommodate individuals or couples.
She also said a significant number of homeless campers contacted by the city had expressed interest in staying in a Pallet shelter.
“Definitely more than three people,” she said. “I think having the Pallet shelters will really open up a space that a lot of people want to come to.”
If they truly use these homes as a short-term bridge to work and housing for those who want help, it’s worth a try. Hopefully, it won’t become a growing Pallet City for long-term users.
average stay at Salvation Army’s Peoria Street community was 80-90 days, with more than one in four finding employment during that time and one in 10 exiting into permanent housing.
Too long, underwhelming results. I’d be interested in more recent data than January. My guess is the numbers are headed the wrong way. Meanwhile, the waiting list continues to grow. The part that is encouraging is this: “. . . an individual’s stay in the 30 new shelters will be limited to one week, or up to one month, if that person is engaging with outreach workers.”
I am proud of our City and Town Council for taking this compassionate and effective action in support of urban squatters who are willing to seek assistance.
This approach allows for a concentration of social resources and provides safety,security,counseling, privacy, and sanitary facilities – in short, a little human dignity and the motivation to improve one’s prospects.
It may be expensive but it is a good investment – far better than allowing the current degradation in the quality of life of residents and taxpayers due to the trash accumulation and dangerous public drug use surrounding urban squatters.
Thank you Aurora Town Council.
Took kicking and screaming to get it done. The conservatives wouldn’t do it but HAD to in order to get the camping ban legal.
We already knew that warehousing people doesn’t work. These types of units, however, have a chance at success. The problem is there aren’t enough of them and not-enough places to build them. People erroneously think you can just find an unused field or parking lot and erect them. And the stay at these units is very limited.
The City invests a lot to build these tiny shelters in order to help make it possible to enforce the new law, but it is a small price we all pay to do our part to help alleviate the problem. These units represent socialism at its very best. However, as more shelter space is provided, my fear is that this will just attract more unhoused folks to our city.
In the meantime, those for whom there is not space will just continue to be shuffled around the city like cattle. It will be interesting to see what happens when cold weather arrives.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Aurora actually rejects and disrupts the littering and drug use that congregates around “urban camping.” Will tax-paying families and business owners finally regain a sense of health and safety?
push homeless into the shadows after traumatizing them with sweeps, taking any stuff they have, scaring them with threats of jail and handing out tickets they can’t pay and disrupting whatever stability they might be working on, just because they are homeless, Than trying to say a pallet shelter for a week or two makes it all OK. Shows complete lack of understanding by Aurora of the trauma of homelessness and the long-term efforts and care needed to help someone out of that cycle, especially shows the cruelty of “let’s drive the homeless out of our city” Coffman. Scandalous and Sad.
One or two week stays are virtually useless. Shows no understanding of the trauma and cycle of homelessness, and the coordinated effort and long-term temp housing it takes to help someone permanently get housed and maintain that. it shows no understanding of the Housing First Model which is the most successful model to help people make long-term, permanent changes. Nothing based on expert opinion and help will come out of Aurora under Coffman, who doesn’t understand homelessness and mocks and shames it, uses those who are experiencing homelessness as a place to blame Aurora problems on and focus community judgement so Coffman doesn’t have to be a real qualified leader who can bring the Council together to work together for ALL Aurorans.
Housing First is a demonstrable failure. See San Fran, Seattle, or our very own Denver’s Road Home, Hickenlooper’s now-15+ year failure to end homelessness.
“IF that person is engaging with outreach workers” the stay is up to four weeks and services and support will be established during that time. This is progress. Is it enough? No. But vilifying the mayor is silly.
Which is it? “just three people have accepted the city’s offer of shelter at Comitis Crisis Center, according to city spokesman Michael Brannen.” Or “Salvation Army program manager Emily Fuller said the waitlist for Pallet shelters has swelled under the ban — from 86 people in late April to 167 as of Friday.”
Doug, the critical thinkers here can figure out that folks resist the rules of congregate housing and shelters but are happy to have their own taxpayer-paid private home where they can do more as they please behind closed doors, with no requirement to access services offered.
Good intentions which will be unappreciated by many occupants.
How many shelters will be trashed by the able-bodied individuals who do not wanto work?
In the futurexpecto see the shelters burned by the City to destroy bugs and drug residues.
As one who is still displaced, with no access to regular shelters (due to an administrative oversight), I’m having to “camp out”, near my place of employment. However, I work in Denver. And, so I need to stay close to my job because, I have to setup my tent, inflatable mattress and accompanying amenities when I get off work in the late afternoon. Hopefully get 8 hours of sleep (usually more like 5-6), then tear down the whole thing, pack everything I own up and haul it all to my job and store everything in a closet, during my shift. If everything I own, doesn’t physically come with me everywhere I go, then they will sprout legs and run off, within 20 minutes. No doubt.
Needlessly to say, it’s actually a lot of work to be homeless, if one wants to maintain a full time job, a sense of hope and some semblance of personal hygiene. Forget about dignity, that has to go to the back burners, for awhile.
To my knowledge, the city of Denver does not have a pallet-style housing project. If they did, I would be elated and on their doorstep immediately.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
I’m grateful for any input, thank you.