Grand Junction’s unhoused resource center won’t shut down, but it will institute new guidelines to alleviate concerns from downtown businesses and residents.
During a four-and-a-half-hour special meeting Monday night, the Grand Junction City Council reconsidered the facility’s lease and set up a plan to move the day shelter out of downtown this spring.
The unhoused resource center is located in downtown Grand Junction and opened in January. It was constructed with the backing of nearly $1 million in city funds to provide support for the city’s unhoused residents.
Less than a year after its opening, however, some downtown residents and business owners called for the shelter’s immediate closure.
Grand Junction Mayor Abe Herman said the resource center needed adjustments, but he felt it was likely better for downtown communities than having nothing at all.
“The reaction we often get when we say we're not willing to shut it down right away is that we don't care about businesses or we don't care about downtown. And I think for me, it's the opposite,” Herman said. “I think the effects of that [closure] would actually be greater because, as has been said numerous times, this is a place [where unhoused people] can hang out during the day. This is a place they can be, and if they're here, they're not at your business, they're not with your employee harassing them or whatever it is that you're concerned about.”
Rather than closing the resource center, Grand Junction City Council voted on changes to the lease that include moving the end date from April 2026 to April 2025. Both opponents of the resource center and providers that run it have made the case for moving the resource center out of downtown, citing business impacts and traffic safety. The existing location is bracketed on both sides by the Interstate 70 Business Loop, which is undergoing major construction.
HomewardBound and United Way of Mesa County operate the facility. Ahead of the vote, they pitched city leaders on a plan that would include tightened security in the area, stricter rules and increased staff. The resource center will limit hours to appointment-only services for the first two weeks of December in order to train staff on new procedures.
City Council considered a motion to mandate a weeklong closure of the center but held off, choosing to let the providers decide. City Councilmember Anna Stout advocated that the full stop could serve as a chance to evaluate the effects on downtown without an operating resource center.
“Sometimes you have to shut down operations to be able to either train or reset your space or clean to be able to do operations better into the future and to provide better services,” Stout said.
The city hosted multiple outreach events to discuss the resource center this fall. At a work session in November, the council discussed moving the center to another location and directed city staff to scout possibilities.
Around 40 people addressed the city council Monday night, with the majority speaking in favor of maintaining operations at the unhoused resource center.
Porcia Silverberg, a Grand Junction resident and business owner in downtown Grand Junction, said an encampment had cropped up just west of the Resource Center and it had been growing in recent days. She said the city should pursue a loitering ordinance to help move unhoused residents out of downtown.
“I believe that would immediately help to address the issue of the very particular encampment on the corner of Second [Street] and Ute [Ave.]. I'm sure if you have driven by, walked by, or as I see it from my balcony, it has gotten progressively worse and surrounding neighbors and businesses would tell you it has indeed gotten worse,” Silverberg said.
Stephania Vasconez, the executive director of Mutual Aid Partners, which distributes food and supplies at the resource center, said the facility was fulfilling its intended purpose.
“We’re literally about to cross the finish line with a community member moving into housing, a collaboration that has taken place between five organizations and agencies in the only centralized, accessible space for us and this community member has been the resource center,” Vasconez said.
Like much of Colorado, Grand Junction has struggled with a growing number of residents experiencing homelessness. In the fall of 2023, the city closed a downtown park that was an unofficial gathering spot for unhoused residents. Following the pushback to that decision, city leaders moved forward with the resource center plan in hopes of replacing the value of the centralized gathering space but without the problems the park presented.
Jamie Porta, a Grand Junction resident who volunteers at the resource center, referenced that when she said the city should not close the facility without a plan for what’s next.
“Please keep the resource center open through the winter and until a more permanent location has been created. Also please reopen Whitman Park and learn from that experience that the city needs to have the next place open before closing existing spaces,” Porta said.
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