Catholic Charities has opened Denver's largest women-only shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
The renovated building stands in the warehouse district on the northern side of Northeast Park Hill, near the intersection of Monaco Parkway and Smith Road.
The building includes emergency overnight space for 100 single women, plus room for 50 more women in a longer-term program. The shelter will allow any single woman into the emergency overnight space, regardless of sobriety or other factors. The recovery program will come with certain requirements.
Denver's Catholic Charities describes it as a response to the growing number of women experiencing homelessness. Service providers recently estimated that there were about 1,700 homeless women in Denver on one night.
The new shelter, called Samaritan House Women's Shelter, cost $5.1 million to build; the city of Denver contributed $1 million. Mayor Michael Hancock praised the religious organization as a member of Denver's "strong community of partners."
The city also played a role in coordinating funding for the new Sanderson Apartments, comprising 60 bedrooms specially designed for people recovering from homelessness.
