The Salvation Army in Colorado Springs is reducing shelter space for families due to a projected budget deficit of more than a million dollars.
Corps Officer Stephen Ball, the El Paso County coordinator for the Salvation Army, said the organization has been unable to find replacement funds for grants which expanded services during the COVID pandemic.
“(We) just didn’t pivot fast enough,” Ball said.
To help shore up its finances, it's cutting half of the shelter rooms it offers through its family emergency housing program. That initiative, which helps unhoused parents and children get back on their feet for up to three months, was started at the request of the city.
“It's actually an amazing service to the community and a powerful program that has tremendous results,” Ball said. “But, we had just started that and then all of a sudden the operational funding just kind of disappeared over a year and a half.”
Sixteen of 31 rooms will close at the Army's Family Hope Center starting in October. The nonprofit is also laying off up to 10 of its 55 full-time equivalent positions to balance the budget.
Ball said the organization is launching a fundraising campaign it’s calling “Hope Needs Help” in an attempt to limit those service reductions.
This comes as latest figures released by El Paso County suggest the local homeless population has reached an all-time high.
