In mid-September, Sydney Byer, manager, Policy and Strategic Partnerships for Next50 in Denver, interviewed Julie Divine, senior manager of Philanthropy at Springs Rescue Mission, which is one of Next50’s grantees, about the experience of working with people who are unhoused, particularly older adults. Divine represented the broader team at Springs Rescue Mission in compiling and sharing information about the older adults they serve.
Please describe your daily job:
Springs Rescue Mission’s (SRM) 100+ employees come to work every day with a desire to make a difference for local people experiencing homelessness. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to provide continuous care to men and women in need. Our guests have access to dignified shelter, three daily meals, laundry services, showers, transformational programming, and the services of 25 partner agencies.
Some of our staff focus on relief services. They are on the front lines, working to provide lifesaving and compassionate care. Our shelter coordinators help ensure clean and safe overnight shelter for all who come to our campus for assistance. Our kitchen staff plan and serve three meals a day. Our security personnel staff our single-point-of-entry Welcome Center and patrol the 13-acre campus, working to ensure that our homeless guests, staff and volunteers are safe. While attending to the basic human needs of food, shelter and safety, these staff express practical care and kindness.
Other staff focus on restoration services—the programming and resources designed to help guests find and pursue a pathway out of homelessness. These staff are our case managers, vocational training staff, and addiction recovery counselors. They invest relationally in our guests, building trust, and helping guide guests toward better housing, health and work. Case managers meet regularly with clients one-on-one, connecting them to resources specific to their needs and encouraging them in their recovery. Vocational training staff lead hands-on job training, while also teaching the life and soft skills needed for successful independent living. Our addiction recovery staff provide intensive substance use disorder treatment, along with compassionate counseling services.
We talk about SRM as a one-stop-shop of homeless recovery services and our staff represent that.
Is there a typical older adult who becomes unhoused or are their many reasons for this happening?
Our staff welcome more than 6,000 unique individuals to our campus every year and more than 30% of those are older than age 50. That’s a lot of people!
While each guest is truly unique—with their own story, their own challenges, and their own strengths—we do see trends. Some have been gainfully employed much of their adult lives before a string of hardships led to homelessness. Others have been dependent on people or systems that can no longer care for them. Others still have been unsheltered for more than 12 months. They may not have held a job in many years and are likely facing co-occurring disorders.
What are the reasons, specifically?
Our case managers observe additional trends of our guests older than age 50. The majority have some form of support, such as disability or Social Security benefits, but it’s not enough to sustain independent living.
Many have an unaddressed health concerns, which prevent stability. This could be a chronic health condition, or a substance use issue. Homelessness is an additional stressor that adds complications to any existing health challenges.
‘Some have more complex needs than their families can care for.’
Many became homeless due to a personal crisis. The death of a loved one. The ending of a relationship. The loss of a job. A medical crisis. Some have more complex needs than their families can care for. Others don’t have any family left or have lost those relationships.
What are their greatest challenges?
The status of being unhoused is a unique challenge. Our guests face the challenge of rebuilding a life from the ground up.
We see that each of our guests needs assistance in improving not just their housing status, but also their health, and their work. It’s really hard for people who have been homeless to remain housed if they have unaddressed health concerns that prevent stability, or have inconsistent income, or lack the ability to budget that income in a way that will retain housing.
So, we take a holistic, person-first approach that seeks to support guests in rebuilding their life. Like all of us, they need meaningful work, they need healthy relationships, they need connections in the community to support their long-term health, and they need healthy habits and patterns to weather the ups and downs of daily life.
While at SRM, guests have a safe place to live, reliable, nutritious food, and supportive programming designed to provide concrete steps toward sustainable community reintegration, and lots of relational encouragement along the way.
How do you get them into housing and of what sort?
Many of our older guests are able-bodied and want to get back to work. For these, vocational and life skills training at SRM is the pathway to self-support and stable housing in the community. SRM’s program equips clients with marketable job skills, the life skills needed for successful job retention and independent living, and connections to employer partners who are friendly to our clients. We develop partnerships with employers who offer full-time jobs with benefits, opportunities for career growth, and a sober-friendly environment.
As clients complete programming, our team provides connections to community housing partners and offers post-program support to help troubleshoot challenges as they arise. Program graduates exit to a variety of housing types—55+ apartments, sober living homes, and standard apartments. Some even make roommate connections while in the program and combine resources for housing stability.
For older guests with complex needs—perhaps with elevated health and mobility challenges and/or if they are beyond working age, SRM provides intensive case management to connect them to the right kind of care. That might be to an assisted living facility, veteran’s housing placement, or nursing home. For those needing this kind of solution, SRM serves as a valuable interim solution—guests are safe and welcome at SRM for as long as they need to be here.
Does that then often become a permanent situation or is it a stopgap measure?
As much as possible, we want to help clients find a sustainable housing solution. In our community, there are some who are housed before they are ready to sustain that housing. Those situations end up being pretty painful, burning bridges with property owners and serving as another obstacle for the client to overcome.
‘Program graduates exit to a variety of housing types—55+ apartments, sober living homes, and standard apartments.’
This is one reason our team places such emphasis on empowerment programming. We see the solution to homelessness not just as getting people back into housing, but in addressing the underlying factors that contribute to an individual’s homeless circumstances. We want to move people back into the community with a sustainable means for self-support, and the community connections and life skills to manage their health and other needs.
This strategy is making an impact. In the last year, 2,189 homeless adults older than age 50 came to our campus for care and 1,078 stayed overnight in our shelter program. A full 428 of these made a connection to empowerment services and SRM assisted 107 in moving to permanent housing.
What are the federal resources available to support unhoused people?
We are grateful to partner with both our city and state government, both of which manage federal resources to fight homelessness. We receive some funding focused on providing safe emergency shelter and essential services. These funds help us provide security and shelter coordinator staff in our shelter program.
What about state or local resources that also come into play?
We are grateful for programs at the state and county level that help fund our job-training efforts. These programs help us provide critical staffing for vocational training.
Even with the available grants at the federal, state and local level, SRM is primarily donor funded. It takes thousands of individual donors, businesses and community groups giving generously of their time and resources to support SRM’s annual service to the more than 6,000 people in need.
Do you feel like it’s a Sisyphean task, or at the end of the day do you feel you have made progress?
Homelessness is a big challenge and it’s one nearly every community nationwide is facing.
It’s hard work, but it’s worth it. People are worth it. We honor the inherent dignity and worth of every guest that comes to our campus for care. We see successes every day and it is incredibly rewarding to celebrate the big ones—like a client getting housing or graduating from addiction recovery treatment. And the small ones—such as a client taking the brave step to stay in our shelter for the first time or to meet with a case manager.
For every success story, every client who gets back to work, improves their health, and connects to housing, there is a multiplying effect. Each of these recent stories help demonstrate that impact:
Lawrence, age 59, has been employed for eight months. He is working toward purchasing a car and is actively engaged in mental health services on SRM’s campus to maintain stability. He participates in peer support groups, ongoing therapy, and has been connected to a medication provider. He is also working with staff on budgeting skills. He is working hard to save money, advance in his job, and reintegrate into the community.
Carl, age 65, spent the past 7 years living outside, struggling with his mental health and substance use. He joined SRM’s programming in October and has excelled in the job and life-skills training. He’s sober, recently got his driver’s license (an SRM connection), and is looking for work. One of the best things about Carl is that even when he feels discouraged or wants to quit, he never does. We are cheering for him!
Kelly, age 58, is determined. She has focused on improving her health and practicing self-care. She is working diligently in her job and life-skills training and meets regularly with her case manager. She possesses the skills and motivation to achieve her employment goals and eventually her housing goals.
If you could sum up the best way the government helps unhoused people what would it be?
Colorado Springs is a special community where local government, the nonprofit sector, and the business community partner well together to serve its citizens in need. We are really grateful for that.
While we don’t see a one-size-fits-all solution, there are some helpful ways our local government has helped support the impactful work happening at Springs Rescue Mission.
- Community education and messaging—encourage local citizens and businesses to give generously to the organizations doing good work instead of giving handouts on street corners.
- Encourage job creation that is friendly for people working to escape homelessness. This means thinking creatively about creating opportunities for those who have been justice-involved and those who need relational support as they rebuild a job path.
- Provide incentives for individuals and businesses to invest in solutions making an impact. The State of Colorado offers a tax credit for those making qualifying contributions to nonprofits serving individuals experiencing homelessness.
To learn more about Springs Rescue Mission and their work please visit: www.springsrescuemission.org.
Photo caption: A client at Springs Rescue Mission.
Photo credit: Courtesy Springs Rescue Mission.
