Pueblo to seek nonprofit operator for shelter as staff outline $600K first-year funding gap for partner model

Pueblo City Council on Feb. 3 directed staff to publish a request for proposals to find a nonprofit operator for the city’s shelter and asked staff to continue developing cost estimates for running the shelter as a city department.

The recommendation from Melissa Cook, CDBG HOME housing administrator, came after staff shared results of a three-year pro forma and comparisons with other Colorado municipalities. Cook told council that if a nonprofit partner operates the shelter the city should budget a first-year gap of about $604,000; if the city ran the shelter as a department, the first-year gap rises to roughly $1 million because of fringe-benefit costs. Cook said the shelter’s baseline monthly operating cost is about $50,000.

Cook said the land for the shelter transferred to the city in November and the former operator, Pueblo Rescue Mission, dissolved at year-end. The shelter on the Porchlight campus is open nightly 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.; average nightly…