A team effort to end homelessness in El Paso County got new head coaches as the calendar flipped to July 1, with leaders presenting a joint effort in itself to solve what’s evolved into one of the most pressing issues in the community.

Pikes Peak United Way and the city of Colorado Springs on Wednesday became the new managers of the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, after the nonprofit ChangeLine announced last year that it wanted out of the contract it held for about eight years.

Through a competitive application process, a committee selected the co-coordinator approach for the agency’s overseers.

The federally backed Pikes Peak Continuum of Care is one of four in the state and serves as a regional framework with multiple tasks.

It conducts an annual census of the homeless population, applies for and redistributes funding allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, oversees a system that tracks use of services for homeless people, collects data and works to fulfill immediate needs of people who don’t have stable housing.

More than 100 private organizations and government agencies are involved with the Continuum of Care.

The big job takes a village and as Pikes Peak United Way’s CEO Cami Bremer onboards five employees to handle system management, the city’s chief housing and homelessness response officer, Aimee Cox, is in the middle of applying for around $5 million in HUD funding for 2027 that likely will be handed down to entities that provide street outreach and supportive transitional and permanent housing.

“We want to make sure we go above and beyond fulfilling the federal requirements to say what else can we bring to the table,” Bremer said at a media briefing Wednesday. “This isn’t just about a grant; this is about moving the needle here in our city.”

The new partnership has been working together behind the scenes toward a goal of “stabilizing a really critical community system,” Bremer said, since April 21 when officials announced the selection of a private nonprofit and a municipal entity for the job.

“The groundwork has been set for solutions-oriented, systems-wide change,” she said. “We’re at a critical time in meeting the needs of our community, and structural work is needed.”

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade met with leaders from service organizations to talk about their priorities, Cox said.

What rose to the top: a desire for strong systems leadership, making more data available, improving case management to help people navigate what can be a complex system and strengthening the process for people to exit the system and return to stable housing.

This year’s Point-in-Time survey of the homeless community that provides a look at where people slept on a given night in January showed a decline in the homeless population from a record high of 1,745 people living on the streets or in temporary housing in 2025 to this year’s 1,413 people lacking stable housing.

Other measurements such as a state of homelessness report that Colorado’s Continuums of Care released last year showed 7,078 people in El Paso County were homeless at some point in 2025.

A fellow from the Harvard T.C. Chan School of Public Health will research how helpful local services are for people who are or have been homeless, Cox said.

And following an assessment of community housing needs released last year, the city is creating a housing action plan for all types of dwellings, including affordable units and supportive housing, she said.

The city of Colorado Springs operates several programs pertaining to homelessness, including street outreach teams, camp cleanups, enforcement of municipal laws, support for emergency shelters and soliciting state and federal grants, she noted.

The city’s additional involvement through the Continuum of Care is a natural progression that brings experience, leadership and communication, Cox said.

Money to support the city’s role with the Continuum of Care is coming from several funds, including a portion of a $250,000 federal Emergency Solutions Grant and about $100,000 from another housing-focused grant the city is contributing to generate matching dollars from other sources.

“We want to see fewer people entering the system and more who are in homelessness exiting,” Cox said.

Bremer said from working with the 211 Pikes Peak United Way hotline that provides resources and referrals for social and human services, staff hear daily, “What is going on with homelessness response? Is anyone doing anything?”

“The answer is yes,” she said.

The new leadership of the Continuum of Care will examine reasons for homelessness, solutions, what’s working, what’s not, what the gaps are and what needs to be done, Bremer said.

“For the average person, it’s knowing that any of us are one crisis away from also experiencing homelessness, knowing that you live in a community with supports that are going to prevent that and knowing there are solutions,” she said.

Said Cox: “The task before us is to make folks understand there are people working on this issue, and we do want everybody to feel safe and welcome in this community.”