AURORA, Colo. — It's been one week since leaders from Aurora traveled to San Antonio on a fact-finding mission to understand how the city approaches homelessness. This trip came just a few weeks after leaders from Aurora, Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties went to Houston for the same reason.
The goal of these trips was to research how these Texas cities use their resources to address homelessness, including housing, addiction treatment programs and access to job training.
"I believe we can get there. I wouldn't be in politics if I didn't have hope,” said Aurora City Councilmember Juan Marcano, who traveled to both Houston and San Antonio.
While in San Antonio, Denver metro leaders toured Haven for Hope, which Marcano described as a campus for around 1,500 people experiencing homelessness. Those in need can access addiction, mental health and job training resources.
Houston provides similar resources, but decided to use existing housing instead of building a centralized campus.
Marcano said the biggest takeaway from the trips were the costs.
“San Antonio’s ends up being much more expensive as a result since it requires more infrastructure. So I think they spent over $100 million building the campus, then it costs around $25 million a year to keep things moving. So it’s really pricey compared to Houston’s approach,” said Marcano.
He feels Houston's approach would best fit the Denver metro when it comes to reducing homelessness overall.
“San Antonio has only reduced about 9% over the last decade, while Houston has reduced about 63%,” said Marcano.
Aurora City Councilmember Dustin Zvonek organized the San Antonio trip. He said having a collaborative approach to addressing homelessness is key.
“That would be having an emergency shelter, meeting people in their emergency needs, getting them in, having a navigation center, case managers through various services,” said Zvonek.
He stressed there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. Marcano said changes in the metro won't happen overnight, but city leaders are working to make it happen as soon as possible.
"We need to lay that groundwork for regional collaboration now, because at the end of the day, regardless of what model we decide to use, we all need to be pushing in the same direction,” said Marcano.
Marcano said Aurora leaders have been invited to a Denver City Council meeting to discuss what they learned in San Antonio. He said it’s something that will take place in the near future.