AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus is set to open in 2025 off Interstate 70, which used to be a Crowne Plaza hotel.
Aurora City Council approved buying the building in January to support people experiencing homelessness. The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus will be run by the nonprofit organization Advance, where Jim Goebelbecker is the executive director.
“We are very excited about the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus because it's truly a campus that's going to be able to provide wraparound services for individuals who are in great need,” Goebelbecker said.
“In addition to housing, we'll be able to provide case management services, workforce development services,” Goebelbecker said. “We're even looking at integrating job training at the campus.”
Goebelbecker said 600 people can stay at the Regional Navigation Campus, including during cold weather emergencies.
The system will be broken up into tiers.
“Tier one, everyone's invited to be able to be there,” Goebelbecker said. “Tier two, someone who is committed to working with a case manager and addressing some of the issues that may have contributed to them being on the streets or unhoused as tier two. And then tier three is for those who are working full time and are able to then stay in what is currently the hotel rooms in order for us to provide longer term support.”
Every case will be different, but some people will be allowed to stay up to two years.
“They can stay up to a couple of years from the beginning of tier one to tier three, as long as the person is working full-time and they're saving and they're still working with their case manager,” Goebelbecker said. “We want them to be able to have enough resources to be permanently separated from their history of being homeless.”
The biggest renovations will be to the outside for security.
“As you enter the building, it will look a little bit different,” Goebelbecker said. “The reception will look a little bit different. We are considering turning that into a day center, for example.”
The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus is expected to open next year.
“So, about this time next year, anyone who's unhoused in the Aurora area would be welcome and invited to be able to come to the campus for housing and those support services,” Goebelbecker said.
