Can We Stop Homelessness Before It Starts?

“We believe we can.” -Dennis Van Kampen

You know the Mission as an organization that helps people find a pathway out of homelessness.

Today, we are sharing our present and future approach to make a greater impact—stopping homelessness before it even starts.

Gloria came to the Mission after living several months on the streets with her boyfriend and dog. She never learned how to read or write, so getting a job has always been difficult. But with the Mission’s help, she was able to move into an apartment.

Gloria’s struggles didn’t end when she got into housing because maintaining housing is a whole other challenge that many individuals and families like Gloria face.

What If We Never Met Gloria?

“Gloria faced significant health and mobility challenges following surgery on one leg. She relies on her car to attend medical appointments and grocery shop, which is vital to maintaining her independence and housing stability,” Manager of Housing Services, José Kabeya, said. “When her vehicle required urgent repairs, the Rapid Resolution contract covered the cost. This support allowed Gloria to reallocate her limited financial resources to pay rent and other essential bills, preventing potential eviction.”

By restoring her transportation, Gloria was able to avoid reentering the cycle of homelessness. Providing such assistance is exactly what we want to do more of at Denver Rescue Mission, swimming upstream to ensure people get help before homelessness becomes their reality.

I had nothing and they helped me with my furniture, my house and then they helped me with my car because it broke down and they fixed it.

Gloria

In Gloria’s case, our team was able to help prevent her from losing her housing. Now imagine if we can help even more people and prevent them from ever experiencing homelessness at all.

Pathway Out of Homelessness

Intake Approach

“It costs a lot for someone to enter the homeless system, and once they enter, it’s really hard to get out and they’re exposed to a lot of traumas,” said Deb Butte, Senior Director of Homelessness Resolution. “So, we are not being kind by letting anybody in that doesn’t need to be in it.”

At every location, the intake team asks each guest questions to evaluate if we can divert people from shelter if there is a better choice for them.

For us, the diversion conversation most commonly centers around transportation, or lack thereof. Often, we are able to help guests reunite with family or loved ones by providing gas money or bus or plane tickets.

“We coordinate everything, making sure that everything aligns with the same goal of moving them into long term, stable housing,” Manager of Housing Services, José Kabeya, said. “That is diversion, so people can be there instead of that person being on the street while they’re waiting for their rent approval or whatever it is.”

For many of the guests who we help obtain more stable housing (574 households last year), we work hard to set each person up for success so they can maintain their housing.

Our Future Impact

This year we plan to launch a Prevention and Diversion division that will build upon what we are already doing in this space and do even more. We will seek to identify and work with families and children who are not currently experiencing homelessness but are on the edge through partnerships with school systems and our Youth Center. The goal is to help keep them from ever becoming homeless, as data has proven it is far less expensive to prevent a family or individual from becoming homeless than to try to help them leave homelessness later.

Thank you for helping us in this work!

Download Full Newsletter

• Can We Stop Homelessness Before It Starts?
• The Mission in My Words: Anna Leer
• Letter From Our CEO

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