Greeley budget plan would sharply scale back homelessness services and leave shelter funding unresolved

Greeley’s proposed 2027 budget would cut Homeless Solutions funding by about $1.2 million and shrink the city’s homelessness response by roughly 48% from 2026 levels, with outreach reduced, rapid rehousing narrowed and shelter operations still facing an unresolved funding gap. Staff told the City Council on June 9 that the department met a 25% reduction target of about $875,000, then absorbed another $325,000 in grant losses. Under the proposal, the department’s base budget would be $2.6 million.

The largest service changes would hit outreach and housing assistance. Staff said the outreach team would drop from four positions to two housing and resource case managers, with encampment response and non-emergency homelessness calls shifting back to police and other city departments. The city also would move away from its traditional rapid rehousing model toward a shorter-term “rapid exit” approach intended to help more households resolve homelessness more quickly, while offering less long-term stabilization for people with higher needs. Permanent supportive housing would remain, but with reduced support services and limited voucher availability.

Staff said shelter funding should be viewed separately from the department’s required cuts. In 2026, shelter operations were backed by $1.2 million from the city, including $1 million in one-time money. The proposed 2027 base budget keeps the city’s ongoing $200,000 commitment but does not continue the $1 million one-time allocation, leaving the shelter at risk unless council gives further direction or outside partners fill the gap.

Mayor Dale Hall said the city had built up services using temporary money that was never guaranteed to continue. Hall said he supports preserving prevention-oriented work such as rapid rehousing, but argued the city should move away from directly running some homelessness programs and instead rely more on outside organizations with more specialized experience, including North Front Range Behavioral Health and Frontier House. “Government should not be maintaining this,” Hall said.

A staff presenter said the city is already exploring that transition, describing the current budget plan as a “ramp down” of the city’s Homeless Solutions team while officials look for nonprofits and other agencies that could take on parts of the work. Staff also said a broader Northern Colorado response may be needed, but that a municipality should not be the convener.

Council members described the cuts as among the hardest in the budget. One council member said the department had produced strong results but would now have to respond to homelessness “in a very different way,” with more demand likely falling on emergency medical services and police. Another said outreach may be the easiest service to cut on paper, but urged community groups and service providers to take a larger role in funding and operating the response.

On the shelter, staff said United Way is trying to stretch existing dollars through the end of the next cold-weather season, or about April next year, while continuing to look for a nonprofit operator for shelter services. Hall said the shelter’s total annual budget is about $2.5 million to $3 million, meaning the city’s contribution was substantial but not enough by itself to sustain operations.