Rumors circulating on social media that a Colorado Springs nonprofit that provides housing for people leaving homelessness and residential programs for addiction recovery is closing are false, its CEO says. 

Homeward Pikes Peak is shifting to a new model of operation for one of its sober-living facilities but otherwise has no plans to shut down, according to Beth Roalstad, who leads the organization that was founded in 2002.

“Videos saying we’re closing couldn’t be farther from the truth,” she said.

The organization is switching its sober-living Harbor House from accommodating men recovering from addiction to families living in sobriety.

“We have given the residents 90 days notice and assistance to help them find new programs or new housing,” Roalstad said. “We don’t think anyone is going to be displaced and end up homeless, based on what’s happened in the past week.”

Since being notified on May 27 of the impending changes, there have been cases of residents reconnecting with family and moving back home, she said. A couple of the men applied for different sober-living programs and one man has qualified to move to The Commons, a 50-unit permanent supportive apartment complex that Homeward Pikes Peak opened three years ago.

Seven other residents are “optimistic they are going to work out a plan,” Roalstad said.

But one Harbor House resident named Eddie complains in a video posted on social media about the situation. He’s unhappy with the new direction and says his roommate and other men were supposed to get their kids next week and were afraid that wouldn’t happen now.

“This might make some individuals scared about their future,” Roalstad said, “but we’re giving them 90 days notice and case management is being provided.”

The region has 61 sober-living programs, she said, and more than half of the existing residents found new housing in five days.

Eighteen men have lived in nine of the two-bedroom units that comprise Harbor House, which are 500 square feet each. Also, two single fathers had their own units, each paying $750 a month. The dads are being allowed to stay, according to Roalstad.

However, the organization’s Bloom House, a sober-living home for pregnant and parenting women addicted to drugs or alcohol to be with their children while receiving treatment, has had an ongoing waiting list, Roalstad said. And the organization is receiving more inquiries about sober living for single fathers who have dependent children.

That’s the primary driver for the change in operational model, she said.

A secondary reason is that in order for families to be referred to some transitional housing programs in the community, they must already be sober and employed, but some families enter Homeward Pikes Peak’s units without being in a stable recovery mode.

“Family homelessness is 21% of our community; we think a driver behind that is the instability due to mental health and addictions,” Roalstad said.

“Funding disappointments,” primarily from government sources over the past year, also lessened the organization’s ability to serve single men, she added.

“We were problem-solving that and looked at the data and thought maybe we should just shift our services to meet the current need,” Roalstad said.

“Homeward Pikes Peak sees a growing need for families experiencing homelessness, and we need to provide supportive services to help them enter long-term recovery so they can build their personal self-sufficiency for the future, for their family.”