New Apartment Building Opens in Aurora for Homeless Veterans
By Robert Davis
In celebration of Veteran’s Day, the City of Aurora opened the Renaissance Veterans Apartments at Fitzsimons, a 60-unit complex at the corner of 17th and Peoria that will provide trauma-informed services for homeless veterans in the area.
The four-story building sits on land owned by the Colorado Department of Housing (DOH) that was donated through a land lease. This helps ensure the apartments will remain affordable as market conditions increase land values.
Residents will be referred to the Renaissance by the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, partner 24-hour shelters, and through the OneHome program administered by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.
The Renaissance includes amenities that promote a community atmosphere, such as 24-hour reception, laundry facilities, a TV room, and multi-use paths on campus. Hardwood and light-colored finishings bring warmth to the building. There 56 one-bedroom units in the complex. Each unit has a full kitchen and bathroom with high ceilings and large windows.
All units are available to veterans, no matter their discharge classification. Units are subsidized by Section 8 and HUD-VASH vouchers provided by the Colorado Department of Housing (DOH) so that no veteran will spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
In November, DOH received 200 additional HUD-VASH vouchers, a record-high dispersal for the state. DOH has 1,125 vouchers that will be made available starting January 1, 2021.
“We are incredibly excited to receive this award and increase our efforts to house veterans experiencing homelessness across Colorado,” Katherine Helgerson, Director of the Office of Rental Assistance within DOH said in a statement. “This incredibly valuable resource and our partnerships with federal and local partners will advance our efforts to ensure that every veteran has a safe place to call home.”
Yet, even though the apartments represent a step in the right direction, members of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), the project’s principal partner, said there is still a lot of work to be done for homeless veterans in the metro area.
“We as a society need to decide how we’re going to address our first pandemic—veteran homelessness,” said Leanne Wheeler, one of CCH’s board members.
To its credit, Aurora has made significant inroads toward addressing homelessness in the city. According to the 2020 Point in Time (PiT) count, Aurora has seen a net-decrease in its homeless veteran population. Overall, there were 427 unhoused individuals at the time of the count, comprising approximately one-fifth of the total in the metro area.
In October, the city opened an emergency shelter in partnership with Mile High Behavioral Health Care to serve 100 unhoused individuals. When bed space is low, residents can choose to camp outside the shelter as well. The shelter currently operates under a six month city lease.
“While we celebrate the opening of these homes to 60 veterans, we must remember the hundreds of others still in need,” said John Parvensky, CEO of CCH.