The City of Boulder contracted with Clutch Consulting to review and evolve the 2017 Homelessness Strategy, developed in 2016. Clutch delivered a draft framework outlining a renewed vision, guiding principles, goals, and strategies, collaborating with city staff to refine the plan.

The 2025 Homelessness Strategy Update discusses current conditions, core strategies, implementation priorities and next steps for single adult and family homelessness. This update does not replace the 2017 Homelessness Strategy but instead expands on the original strategy and serves as a roadmap to guide resource allocation and program design over the coming years. Key highlights from the report are outlined below.

Single Adult Homelessness

Current Condition

Boulder has made progress in reducing chronic homelessness and city strategies are working to stop homelessness from growing, but gaps remain. Boulder has a shortage of deeply affordable housing, and some individuals need higher levels of behavioral health care that are not available locally.

Core Strategies

  • Expand supportive rehousing and stabilization programs.
  • Improve access to behavioral health facilities with transitional and long-term care options for the most complex cases.
  • Partner with the county and the state.
  • Maximize and expand affordable housing development to include alternative and short-term options for traveling and transient individuals.
  • Set clear boundaries to prevent rough sleeping and ensure health and safety for everyone in the city of Boulder.

Implementation Priorities

  1. Prioritize current long-staying individuals for exit interventions
  2. Expand and enhance exit interventions to prevent long lengths of stays
  3. Enhance crisis care and stabilization pathways for complex cases
  4. Establish clear boundaries to ensure health and safety

Family Homelessness

Current Conditions

The City of Boulder has invested in prevention programs which have kept family homelessness relatively low, but rising housing costs and limited attainable family housing continue to create instability for many local families.

  • Many families served by the city’s stabilization programs are from Boulder, indicating that economic shocks are impacting local families desiring to stay in the community.
  • While the City of Boulder has invested heavily in its affordable housing stock since 2017, there is still limited availability of attainable family housing. Increases in cost of living are creating continued instability for thousands of families in Boulder.
  • A formalized family response system would be positioned to focus on preventing literal homelessness among families, with practices and policies distinct from those serving literally homeless single individuals.

Core Strategies

  • Move to a formalized Boulder Family Response System that offers standardized solutions.
  • Create a shared data system to track outcomes, effectively plan and target resources and infuse predictive analytics to reach all at-risk families.
  • Expand accessible housing options for families.

Implementation Priorities

  1. Standardized program models for efficiency, predictability and scalability.
  2. Establish a shared data system to drive results and predictive action.
  3. Expand housing access and stabilization options.

Other Homelessness Resources