The Durango Homeless Coalition is an informal body, convened by the city of Durango, with a clear mission to address a growing problem. Specifically, the coalition aims “to create lasting solutions that assist, through the local continuum of care, in addressing the needs of the homeless and at-risk families and individuals in our community.”
In positioning itself with the goal of finding long-term solutions that address the needs of vulnerable people and families who are experiencing homelessness or on the brink of doing so, the coalition can be a powerful force for drawing resources to an enduring and growing challenge in Durango and throughout Southwest Colorado. To do so, though, the group must first focus on collaborative coordination to produce a spectrum of solutions appropriate for various homeless individuals – and the factors that placed them in that circumstance. Further, the group will increase its efficacy by drawing on the significant knowledge and experience from other Colorado communities and state-level efforts to meaningfully address homelessness.
Homelessness is a complex and emotionally fraught issue nationally that has captured local residents’, business owners’, visitors’ and policymakers’ attention in Durango recently, largely because of a growing number of panhandlers over the summer. While there is certainly cross-over among panhandling and the homeless, the two are not interchangeable – a fact that the homeless coalition must keep at its forefront when discussing avenues by which to achieve its mission. Panhandling may be disconcerting to some, but it is legal behavior the city must protect in order to be compliant with the First Amendment. Also, discouraging or disallowing the practice does nothing to address the causes of or solutions to homelessness.
The Durango Homeless Coalition, which comprises 43 stakeholders – many of whom have significant experience working with homeless individuals and families in the region – is uniquely positioned to effect positive change for those people and those likely to fall into homelessness. There is a vast body of knowledge throughout Colorado at the state and local levels revealing the number of homeless individuals and families, as well as the various challenges they face – including mental and physical health issues, substance abuse challenges, financial and family hardship or recent incarceration. With that, there are existing instruments to gather much more information. Accordingly, there is a spectrum of known solutions that, when deployed in careful coordination among service and treatment providers, counselors and other resources – with support from law enforcement – can be extremely effective in reducing homelessness in its many forms: chronic, situational and otherwise.
To expand the services and solutions available to assist homeless individuals and families in Southwest Colorado, the Durango Homeless Coalition will be successful to the extent that it can coordinate as an advocacy arm for resources to address housing challenges. Those are financial, of course, but also support for housing projects from local and county governments, coordinated screening, counseling, referrals and advocacy from the many access points that homeless individuals and families have to a network of help, and most importantly, a constant recognition that homeless people are, in fact, people.
The coalition and its members have crafted a mission that can deliver results for those who are homeless, or those at risk of it. In shaping its steps, the group should draw on the many resources that exist to help communities and individuals, and use them toward meaningful solutions. That will require significant investment of time, energy, money and goodwill from all involved.
