When Boulder, Longmont and Boulder County opened a joint COVID-19 Recovery Center for people experiencing homelessness more than a year ago, residents slept in a makeshift room at the East Boulder Community Center.
But over time, the center hired staff. It moved to its current location at the former Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church building, which was purchased by Boulder Housing Partners and will one day be affordable senior housing. And with the help of people such as Nora Schlosser, who now serves as assistant manager, it developed processes that helped it function smoothly.
With just more than a year of experience under its belt, the COVID-19 Recovery Center has served some 286 people, according to data provided by Boulder’s Housing and Human Services department. Those who work there view it as a place that can offer a brief respite for people experiencing homelessness in Boulder County who are fighting coronavirus.
“Having the space available for people to recover and rest is invaluable,” CRC manager Megan Newton said. “The day to day life (for people experiencing homelessness) is challenging in the best circumstances.
“If you’re sick or have other things going on, being able to just kind of have some downtime and rest and recover is not always easy to come by. That’s probably the best thing we provide,” she added.
Although people do not have to go through the county’s Coordinated Entry screening process in order to stay at the COVID-19 Recovery Center, the center does not offer walk-up services. It only accepts referrals from entities such as Boulder County homeless shelters, the Homeless Outreach Team, local hospitals and clinics and the jail.
The CRC is meant for people who are exhibiting symptoms or who have tested positive for coronavirus. However, at times over the summer, when the numbers were low, the center opened as a “respite type space” for those who may have been high risk but not sick, according to Newton, who also is a navigator with the Boulder Municipal Court.
It has thrived through the work of its volunteers, according to Housing and Human Services Director Kurt Firnhaber. The names of the volunteers decorate the walls of the former church and brighten up the space.
Schlosser, for example, began as a volunteer on March 20, 2020, the first day the CRC opened, and came on board as a staff member a few weeks later. It was a fast turnaround, according to Schlosser, who said the need for staff quickly became evident.
“I’m a volunteer at heart. It was a good fit for me,” she said.
No staff or volunteers have thus far contracted coronavirus because of working at the CRC, according to Newton. Residents are screened and those who are waiting on test results isolate in rooms on the first floor of the building. They receive meals from the Bridge House Community Table Kitchen, which are set on a table outside the room, and do not interact with other people. Once people test positive, they move upstairs to a more congregate space since social distancing is less important for those who are confirmed cases.
Recently, numbers at the CRC have been low. On most nights in the past month, it’s been empty. But that hasn’t always been the case.
The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless is on the state health department’s list of active outbreak sites for an outbreak that began in later December. As a result, the numbers at the CRC jumped to more than 20 residents on one night in mid February.
Setting up a separate facility such as the CRC is considered best practice by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which at the beginning of the pandemic issued guidelines for supporting people who are experiencing homelessness. The CDC recommends overflow sites, quarantine sites, isolation sites and protective housing for people who are at increased risk.
Moving forward, the center is likely to end operations in June when its lease is up. CRC staff said they’re hopeful numbers will continue to trend down as more people are vaccinated.
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