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April 6th, 2025

Grand Junction, CO – The Grand Junction City Council, a seven-member body with five district and two at-large seats, unanimously voted on March 31 to extend the Resource Center’s lease at 261 Ute Avenue to June 30, 2025. Managed by HomewardBound of the Grand Valley alongside United Way of Mesa County and the City, this low-barrier daytime shelter offers restrooms, showers, meals, and resource navigation for the unhoused community. But cuts loom large: starting April 15, hours drop from 7:30 AM-5:30 PM to 10 AM-4 PM, six days a week, then shrink to three days in May and one day in June. Staff must vet each visitor—purpose, needs, duration, meals—straining a hub facing demolition in July with no replacement site secured, leaving the unhoused community in limbo.

For 18 months, the Grand Junction Resource Center has been a lifeline, hosting nonprofits and faith-based groups in a model hailed as transformative. Sarah Kieckhaefer, director of Grand Valley Outreach Ministries, calls it “a great facility with many things to offer the people,” providing aid and purpose. Yet she warns, “The uncertainty of the future of the building itself is very unsettling for many people.” Without a new location by June 30, she predicts “more scattered unhoused people amongst the community,” reversing gains since Whitman Park closed. She consulted “Solidarity Not Charity” volunteers, who’ve served Saturdays at 4:30 PM since the Center opened. They’re “very alarmed” as hour cuts end their shifts, forcing a move to a park next week—a fragile fix.

An anonymous volunteer, deems it “proof of concept” that collaboration—Catholic Outreach, Peer 180 RCO, United Way, HomewardBound—uplifts the disenfranchised. “Over the last 18 months,” he says, “it’s shown the community benefits from better resource management.” As closure nears, he asks, “How do we continue to help people get off the streets and into housing, treatment, or recovery?” He muses, “Maybe it won’t be a place in the near future as much as it will be a change in attitudes,” noting reliance on tents and propane for 80 camps past 29 Road is unsustainable. Ruth Biskupski, a resident, targets the root: “Focusing on affordable housing is key. There would be less unhoused if there was more housing available. More housing vouchers. Boarding houses with shared space at lower cost.”

Sarah seeks “a permanent placement location” by June 30. The City Council’s next meeting, April 16 at 5:30 PM in City Hall (250 N 5th St), will ratify the lease, with public comment allowed (three minutes each). An election looms April 8, with four seats contested. Residents can call 970-244-1504 or email the Council. Time’s running out—volunteers, providers, and citizens must flood these channels, demanding a permanent site for the Grand Junction Resource Center before June 30 dismantles a vital lifeline and scatters the unhoused further.

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Sources

• Grand Junction City Council
• HomewardBound of the Grand Valley – Resource Center
• United Way of Mesa County
• Catholic Outreach
• Personal communications with Sarah Kieckhaefer, Volunteers, and Ruth Biskupski