DENVER — The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless held a grand opening event Thursday morning for its new Renaissance Legacy Lofts and Stout Street Recuperative Care Center in downtown Denver.
“The Recuperative Care Center will provide 75 medical respite beds and recuperative care for persons experiencing homelessness,” said Colorado Coalition for the Homeless president John Parvensky.
The recuperative care center will occupy the first few floors of the facility, and the top floors will provide permanent supportive housing.
“In 2012-2013, we found 250 people experiencing homelessness ... housing insecurity. Those 250 people counted for 2,400 visits to the emergency room in one year, 2,600 visits to detox in one year and some 1,400 nights in jail for a year… They cost the taxpayers of this city some $11 million a year,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said during the grand opening event.
Hancock said the $46 million facility in downtown Denver will eventually ease the tax burden while helping those most in need of care.
“I think this should be a shot in the arm, not only for those people that we're going to be serving, but certainly our hospital systems… There’s probably nothing more frustrating than being a discharge planner at a hospital with a patient that has nowhere to go and you're being forced to say goodbye to them,” Parvensky said.
Parvensky said when recovering at home isn’t an option, this facility will allow those experiencing homelessness to stay on the path to healing.