COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — After announcing in early November that The Salvation Army’s El Paso County branch had raised enough money to reopen five of the 16 homeless shelter units for families that the organization had temporarily closed by Oct. 1 due to financial problems, it’s taken nearly three months to get enough people hired to do so, officials said Tuesday in announcing the Christian-based organization is reinstating additional units in a time of high demand.
According to our news partners at The Gazette, five more units with bunkbeds for various sizes of families will come online and be ready for parents with children to stay in this week, said Maj. Nancy Ball, who with her husband, Stephen Ball, are coordinators of The Salvation Army’s local operations.
Shortly thereafter, another five private sleeping quarters will be up and running, for a total of 25 out of 31 suites at the Family Hope Shelter at 709 S. Sierra Madre St., Ball said.
“We’ve been working on a shoestring staff for about six months, and we’ve hired three more staff and posted four more jobs, which should allow us to get back to 25 rooms,” she said.
The local Salvation Army announced in September that a nearly $1 million budget shortfall would force it to reduce capacity to 15 family rooms.
Since then, seven to 12 families have been turned away daily, said Jacqueline Baumgartner, shelter program manager.
With the recent cold snap, it’s “not an environment we want families to spend in their car,” Ball said.
“We’re excited to be able to expand our space where they can be warm and safe when the biggest needs are there,” she said. “We just didn’t have the manpower or funding.”
Those who have been granted a stay of up to 90 days, during which time they work on re-establishing stable housing and employment and receive other case management along with meals and programs, logged a 79% success rate in 2025, Baumgartner said.
“It’s not just single moms or dads; we often have two-parent families coming in, working hard to create something real and meaningful,” Ball said. “Many of our families go into apartments where they can pay the security deposit and rent – they just needed a stop-gap solution for a little while to get them from trauma to stability.”
Many clients have heart-breaking stories, she said, and arrive angry and trying to hold on to dignity but usually leave with feelings of hope and healing.
The Salvation Army had received $250,000 in community donations after launching a fundraising campaign, “Hope Needs Help,” which funded the first five rooms reopening, with more money coming in.
Contributions to the annual Red Kettle campaign, a holiday drive that had set a goal of $400,000 this season, are still being tallied, Ball said, but the drive seemed to produce a strong community response as well.
The Gazette's Debbie Kelley contributed to this web story.
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