COLORADO SPRINGS — More homeless families are likely to be back out on the streets searching for a place to rest their heads, after a homeless shelter closes at the end of August.
City Hope, a shelter specifically for homeless families, will be the second shelter of its kind to shut its doors within a matter of two months, after Family Promise closed at the end of July.
"Honestly just heartbreak... Looking at these people who we'd come to love so dearly... And understanding that this was the end of the line and for a lot of them there was nowhere else to go," said Grace Staudenmaier, a former employee at City Hope.
According to the Executive Director of ComCor, a statewide nonprofit which owns City Hope and the facility it is located in, the shelter is shutting down because the funds are exhausted. The Executive Director says City Hope was originally funded by a COVID-19 grant.
City Hope opened in 2021 and has since served nearly 500 people in need.
"We felt hopeless and helpless, because we can't do anything about it," said Sarah Johnson, another former employee who says she was blindsided by the closure.
City Hope, Family Promise, and the Salvation Army were all shelters which allowed homeless families to stay overnight, an exceptional service which most other homeless shelters do not allow.
Off of Sierra Madre Street near downtown Colorado Springs, the Salvation Army has been serving homeless families in the community for over a decade. The organization is planning on expanding its services drastically over the next three years.
"We believe we are the answer to the reduction in beds for family shortages," said Captain Doug Hanson, El Paso County Coordinator for the Salvation Army.
The former employees say families are expected to be out of City Hope by August 30.
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