Results of the Survey

Thank you to all those Wheat Ridge residents who took a recent survey about Homelessness. Here are the results and ways in which you can continue the conversation as we work to address this very complex issue.

Drawing from your own perspectives and experiences, choose the statement that you most agree with:

If you agree that the City should be involved in homelessness, what should that role look like? Select all that apply

Should the City work with regional partners to create a facility where homeless residents could live and receive education, mental health support, and other resources?

If yes or maybe would you support this facility in your neighborhood?

A city/county collaborative in Jefferson County has created a proposal to develop two housing navigation centers to help to serve and support residents experiencing a housing crisis in Jefferson County. While the proposal is still in a very early stage of development, the tentative plan is to open a center in north Jeffco and one in central Jeffco. Each location would include a Housing Navigation drop-in resource center, up to 50 bridge housing beds, 35 units of workforce housing, and 40 units of perm anent supportive housing. The centers would provide residents of Jefferson County who are experiencing a housing crisis with an efficient, one-stop service center.

Finally, survey respondents ranked the priorities for how they would like to see the City spend its resources. Those priorities were identified in order as 1) Mental Health, 2) Food Security, and 3) Drug Use/Misuse 4) Employment, 5) Sheltering, 6) Health, 7) Permanent Housing and 8) Education. We believe our community has more ideas to share on these topics and we are gathering that input on What’s Up Wheat Ridge in the Ideas section. (link)

This is a complex issue and many respondents expressed strong opinions about how homelessness should be addressed. For some respondents, solutions lie with a more comprehensive focus by local agencies whose mission is to provide food, shelter, mental health services and drug intervention programs. We’d welcome your additional input on the Ideas Section of What’s Up Wheat Ridge. Some respondents indicated that they are willing to offer time, talent and financial support to local organizations already working toward solutions. We invite you to contact Localworks to volunteer for upcoming trash clean up days (weareLocalworks.com), donate items or funds to local organizations (List of Resources).

As Wheat Ridge City Council continues to review the direction our efforts to address Homelessness will take in Wheat Ridge, we will continue to share information on the City’s website, social media, in the quarterly Connections newsletter, and in our monthly enewsletter Mayor’s Matters (subscribe link).