After 22 years of operation, the Crawford House, a transitional housing center in Colorado Springs for homeless veterans and former military dealing with substance abuse, has permanently closed.

The Colorado Veterans Resource Coalition shuttered its 90-day facility that had a maximum of 20 beds at 415 S. Weber St. with little explanation, and no one returned phone calls requesting comments.

“This is not completely sad,” the organization posted on its website. “This is due to all the amazing new programs that have been established for our struggling veteran families. So we are going to let them take the lead and do amazing things to uplift our brothers and sisters.”

However, other agencies that assist homeless veterans say it’s a noticeable loss to the community.

“The Crawford House was filling a critical need,” said Beth Roalstad, executive director of Homeward Pikes Peak, which provides residential substance treatment centers and sober living for homeless men, women and families. The organization also is building a 50-unit supportive housing complex, 20% of which will be designated for homeless veterans.

Human service organizations face multiple challenges with managing grants and other operational aspects, Roalstad said.

The Crawford House had 13 beds operating when it shut down for a year after the March 2019 bomb cyclone in Colorado Springs caused $200,000 in damages, ripping off the center’s roof, severing gas and electric lines, and flooding the building.

The program manager at the time told The Gazette it was the biggest crisis it had faced in recent years.

The organization also had struggled financially, showing a budget shortfall on 990 tax forms from 2017. Also, revenue from charitable contributions, grants and program services had decreased by at least half in 2019, the most current tax form available.

The Colorado Veterans Resource Coalition is listed as noncompliant with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office for filing required reporting documents and will be considered delinquent on July 31.

In total, the Crawford House helped more than 2,200 veterans with temporary housing, counseling, therapy for substance abuse and job training, the organization previously had said. The program boasted a success rate topping 80% in 2019.

The disappearance of such organizations has a ripple effect in the community, Roalstad said, noting how impacts of the 2020 closure of Ecumenical Social Ministries in Colorado Springs are still being felt today, as other agencies have to fill in the gaps.

A lack of temporary housing for homeless veterans continues to be a challenge for the community, said Kate Hatten, executive director of Home Front Military Network, which was created in 2020 from the merger of The Home Front Cares and Peak Military Care Network.

“We need to make sure we collectively address the need,” she said.

Freedom Springs, a 50-unit supportive housing complex for veterans, opened in 2020 in Colorado Springs, and more transitional housing units for veterans are slated to come online soon.

In addition to the 10 units for homeless veterans at Homeward Pikes Peak’s new apartment complex, which is scheduled to open in December, Silver Key Senior Services is building 50 affordable apartments for low-income seniors, 13 of which will be marked for homeless military veterans and paid for with state housing vouchers.

And the Salvation Army is planning to expand its stock of supportive low-income housing for military veterans with more apartments on its campus, Capt. Doug Hanson, who oversees El Paso County operations, told The Gazette.

Veterans who are homeless also can apply for up to $2,500 a year in financial assistance to pay for application fees, security deposits and utilities arrears from the Pikes Peak Veteran Housing Fund. The program also provides compensation for landlords if they incur damages to units or unpaid rent.

Donations from individuals, local businesses and philanthropic organizations support the fund, which is a project of the city of Colorado Springs, Home Front Military Network and Rocky Mountain Human Services’ Home for All Veterans.

For more information on that program, call Rocky Mountain Human Services at 719-323-2600.