Pitkin County reviews homelessness strategic plan; consultants recommend local rental subsidies, service hub and permanent supportive housing

Pitkin County commissioners heard an update on the county’s homelessness strategic plan on Aug. 19, when county human services and housing staff and consultants from SHG Advisors presented initial findings and possible next steps, including a locally funded rental subsidy, a centralized housing navigation hub and development of permanent supportive housing.

The presentation, led by Lindsey Maish, director of human services for Pitkin County, and Ashley Pearl, housing and resiliency director for Pitkin County, was delivered by SHG Advisors’ Summer Gather Cole, Cassie Westmoreland and Rutgers professor Dan Treglia, who summarized the county’s data and service gaps and outlined short- and longer-term options.

“Right now it truly is a solvable problem,” Summer Gather Cole said, describing the county’s situation as one in which existing services keep people alive but do not reliably help them exit homelessness. Maish described the county’s work since 2018 to build a coordinated response and said COVID-era grants and subsequent contracting expanded outreach and emergency shelter capacity but left the county needing more technical expertise to move to the next stage.

Why it matters: Commissioners were…