Power outages, backed-up plumbing and locked doors have stopped Aurora from fully opening its Regional Navigation Campus, a 600-bed, $40 million homeless shelter and resource center, according to Advance Pathways, the nonprofit running it.
Formerly a Crowne Plaza hotel and convention center, the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus has cots, sleeping pods and private rooms surrounded by on-site services. Meant to get homeless residents return to permanent, stable housing, the services include addiction counseling, legal help, vaccinations, job training, resume building and obtaining people’s vital records. It opened on November 17 after years of anticipation by Aurora elected leaders like Mayor Mike Coffman, who highlights the “work-first” housing model the campus is trying to bring to life.
The money to build the campus came from $15 million in funding from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and $25 million in federal COVID relief funds, mostly from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties contributed most of those ARPA funds…