Former Youth Services Center Being Considered For Housing Homeless

DENVER (CBS4) - An empty campus once home to Ridge View Youth Services Center, may be part of the state's solution to a growing a homeless population.

In a statement the governor says, "Homelessness has no address and neither should our approach to resolving it."

The facility in Watkins is just east of Aurora and offers hundreds of open beds even before any transformation.

Cathy Alderman with Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, welcomes the idea.

"According to the stated goals it does sound like a real opportunity to provide a recovery community for people experiencing homeliness," she said.

Modeled after the Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community that they operate for the state In the south Eastern Colorado.

"It requires a lot of work and a lot of partnerships but it has been a real lifeline," Alderman said.

The Fort Lyon faculty combines housing with recovery support, education, training and employment opportunities for those experiencing homelessness from anywhere in the state.

"The fact that we can work with them onsite to address other issues that may have led to homelessness and could help them reach housing stability is just an extra benefit to having a campus like that," Alderman said.

The ideas to use an already existing facility would cut cost and utilize partnerships already setup in the community.

"I can say that the idea that we have a place for people to recover and people to go and stabilize, so we can then work with them on a long term housing option is crucial to resolving homelessness in the state," she said.