LOVELAND – The doors won’t actually open for another month or more, but the youth homeless shelter that the Poudre and Thompson school districts, Matthews House and others have envisioned for nearly three years is finally ready to host its first overnight residents.
The Landing, the new shelter’s name, has a kitchen, lounge, classroom, case-management room, study areas, wellness room, closet filled with donated supplies, laundry facilities and residential rooms with lockers and beds for up to four residents apiece. One of the two small wings — with staff areas and common spaces in between — is designed for 15- to 17-year-olds and the other for 18- to 21-year-olds, although the configuration can change, as needed, to accommodate more residents in either of those age groups, said Shawn Keefer, the experiential education director for The Matthews House, during a grand-opening ceremony Wednesday evening.
The new shelter, which will also have drop-in services for youths and young adults who are not overnight residents, is located in a building provided by Thompson School District that previously served as the Monroe Early Childhood Center, just a block north of U.S. Highway 34 and half a mile east of U.S. Highway 287 at 814 16th St. in Loveland.
The Matthews House will operate The Landing in partnership with the two local school districts, with funding provided by multiple grants. More than 20 nonprofits and community organizations were involved in the project to provide the only overnight shelter dedicated to youths and young adults in the region, Keefer said. The nearest comparable facility is in Boulder, Keefer said.
Youths worked with the architecture and construction contractors on the design of the facility, Nicole Armstrong, executive director of the Matthews House, told the audience of about 300 people, many of them directly involved in its creation.
“This shelter is more than a building, it is more than a bed, a hot meal or a place to do laundry,” Keefer said. “The Landing is a place, a light at the end of a dark tunnel for so many young people in Northern Colorado.
“Up until now, if youth experienced homelessness, there was almost nowhere safe and age-appropriate for them in our area. They couldn’t stay in adult shelters, nor could they refer to critical services. So, what happens when a 16-year-old has nowhere to go? The answer is heartbreaking. Often, they are forced to couch surf, stay with unsafe adults, sleep in cars or on the street or even fall victim to trafficking.”
Poudre School District had 1,022 youths defined as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act and Thompson School District had 521 during the 2023-24 school year, according to Colorado Department of Education data. Youth are considered homeless under that legislation if they “lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,” according to the National Center for Homeless Education.
The Matthews House has completed its hiring of staff for The Landing and is now training them for their jobs, Keefer said. Aaron Brown, who will serve as the facility’s director, said the facility could house its first overnight residents by the end of January, noting that there are still multiple regulatory steps in the licensing process that must first be completed, including an on-site inspection by state officials scheduled for early January.
The budget for renovations was $3.8 million, Todd Piccone, Thompson School District’s director of operations, previously told the Coloradoan. That’s about half of what building a comparable facility from scratch would have cost. The project received $6.26 million in funding from grants, including $3.76 million from Colorado’s Transformational Housing, Homeownership and Workforce Housing Grant program, $1 million from the state’s Transformational Homelessness Response Grant program and $1.5 million from Larimer County from its American Rescue Plan Act funding, according to previous Coloradoan reporting.
“Today is a day of hope, community and shared purpose as we officially open our space that was designed by and for youths and young adults in our community who are experiencing housing instability and homelessness,” Armstrong said. “This is more than just a shelter; it is a space where youth and young adults in our community can begin to rebuild their lives and chart a path forward with stability and success.”
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, x.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Larimer County youth homeless shelter The Landing prepares to open