Mayor Yemi Mobolade today announced a new Citywide Homelessness Response Team to strengthen coordination and accountability across City departments, while reporting that 59% of the City's 61 action items of the Homelessness Response Action Plan are complete with another 25% underway.

The new whole-of-government team brings together 15 different City departments and divisions involved in homelessness response to better coordinate strategy and response to homelessness across several priorities, including enforcement, cleanup, outreach, shelter, housing and supportive services, and employment. Departments that support the City's response to homelessness include the Mayor's Office; Housing and Homelessness Response; the Colorado Springs Police Department; the Colorado Springs Fire Department; Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services; Neighborhood Services; Municipal Court; Public Works; Mountain Metro Transit; Stormwater Enterprise; Planning; and the Pikes Peak Office of Emergency Management.

"Homelessness touches nearly every part of our organization," said Mayor Yemi Mobolade. "Now we are bringing those responsibilities together with clearer ownership, stronger coordination and greater accountability for results. We are making progress, but the pressure on our homelessness response system remains real. The Homelessness Response Team is about making the government we already have work better and responding to the challenges on our streets today while investing in longer-term solutions that reduce homelessness tomorrow."

The City also provided an update on its 2025-2030 Homelessness Response Action Plan. The City launched the five-year strategic plan in November 2024 after extensive community input from residents, service providers, business owners, people experiencing homelessness, and government agencies to address immediate impacts in neighborhoods, businesses and public spaces while investing in longer-term strategies that help people move from homelessness to stable housing. The plan includes 61 action items across six strategic priorities - Enforcement & Cleanup, Street Outreach & Shelter, Homelessness Prevention, Employment, Housing & Supportive Services, and Collaborate & Inform.

Completed actions highlighted during today's progress update include:

• Expanding its Sit/Lie ordinance and strengthened enforcement and cleanup efforts.
• Expanding the Homeless Operations Team (HOT) and restructured operations to provide consistent coverage of the commercial business district six days a week.
• Investing in the Downtown Clean & Safe pilot program, providing business support, downtown ambassadors, and street outreach to the downtown core.
• Raising $860,000 to expand winter shelter capacity, and investing in transitional housing and behavioral health and substance-use treatment, including $150,000 for Step Springs, a 50-bed residential recovery facility.
• Advancing nearly 3,000 affordable units that are in the development pipeline, under construction, or have been leased since June 2023.
• Completing its Housing Needs Assessment and securing state funding to develop a Housing Action Plan.
• Securing City Council approval to shift nearly $2 million in unspent federal funding to rental assistance for tenants at risk of losing housing assistance because of federal funding cuts.
• Strengthening regional coordination through joint leadership of the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care with Pikes Peak United Way.

"Ultimately, the measure of this work will be whether fewer people are living unsheltered, whether people move out of homelessness more quickly and into stable housing, and whether residents see a more coordinated response from their City," said Aimee Cox, chief housing and homelessness response officer. "We are committed to doing this alongside our service providers, community partners, volunteers, funders and everyone who continues to show up for this work."

The Homelessness Response Team will meet regularly to share information, review procedures, establish common standards and solve problems across departments. Its work includes improving coordination around encampment closures and outreach and developing more consistent data to measure results.

Over the next year, the City will work toward measurable reductions in unsheltered homelessness, track how quickly people move through the homelessness response system and into housing and develop shared performance standards with the Continuum of Care.