In late July of this year, the workers at Urban Peak, a shelter that serves and supports Denver’s unhoused youth, voted to unionize. The effort makes Urban Peak the first shelter to unionize in the history of Colorado, according to a news release by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 105, which now represents the workers at Urban Peak. Urban Peak has been around for over 35 years, and they provide a range of services for unhoused youth. According to CEO Christina Carlson, “We provide a full continuum of services to get people off the streets. We do street outreach, meeting youth where they are at as a sort of first step of engagement to get them services, knowing that a lot of young people we serve might not have had a lot of positive interactions with adults in the past. We provide 24/7 housing for ages 15-21 and a daytime option for people 21-25.”
“Once The Mothership (the new facility being built) is operational we will be able to provide a wider range of options for individuals who are older than 21,” she adds. “We provide meals and showers and laundry. We offer case management and classes. All our work is trauma-informed, which has become a bit of jargon over the years. In short, we take the approach not of ‘What is wrong with you?’ but ‘What happened to you?’ to recognize behaviors relating to trauma responses and identifying ways to recovery.”
Unfortunately, queer youth have a long history of being overrepresented in unhoused populations. According to a report by the National Network for Youth, up to 40% of the 4.2 million unhoused youth identify as LGBTQ+. Carlson also discusses how Urban Peak serves the queer community: “First and foremost, it’s about ‘How do we have a welcoming environment that allows youths to be their authentic selves?’ Understanding that we are talking about young people who are figuring themselves out, so creating a place where they feel can explore themselves, including that aspect, is really crucial. One of the ways that we serve our youth is, we allow them to self-identify which dorms they want to be placed in.” We asked Carlson if Urban Peak has taken any official stance on the unionization. “We thought, as an organization, it was important to allow our workers to have that debate. There were people who were passionate about it on both sides,” Carlson explains. “Ultimately, they decided they wanted to move forward with that, and we are engaging with the union on a variety of levels. We are excited to figure out ways to address their concerns and to continue to build out our programming so we can continue the work we do.” According to the SEIU, workers express concerns over high workloads, turnover, and lack of proper training and resources to effectively serve young unhoused people. The SEIU describes the work done at Urban Peak as “difficult both physically and emotionally.” The union pointed to a series of incidents from earlier in the year, including one where 19-year-old Xavier Wake froze to death in a tent less than a block away from Urban Peak’s shelter. Wake had previously received services from Urban Peak. An employee of Urban Peak, who has requested they remain anonymous, told OFM that to their knowledge, workers had been discussing unionizing for well over a year before efforts were brought to leadership. “I think overall it was burnout and compassion fatigue. There is a shortage of staff and support on the floor that was felt by the frontline staff.” “There were several deaths that happened close together which really impacted the staff,” they add. “People didn’t feel they had a seat at the table when it came to the decision-making process. They did an increase in budgets, so everyone got a raise.” “The work that our front-line folks do is so important and really hard … as we have seen a shift in our landscape for folks experiencing homelessness it is brutal,” Carlson says. “As an organization, we have worked really hard to provide a living wage and benefits for folks. We cover staff members’ health insurance at 100%, and we’re expanding dental. We’ve brought on a dedicated trainer specifically to handle onboarding to make sure our employees are equipped to serve our community.” The anonymous Urban Peak employee adds that, “I think a lot of people in leadership don’t understand it, there are people in management who are supportive, but generally it’s not something I can say we have felt a lot of support from. Everybody’s here because they love the youth. I think some people felt the decision to unionize was personal.” They emphasize that they hope the union allows the organization to better serve unhoused youth.Regional HUD Administrator hands check to Metro Denver Housing Initiative to end youth homelessness.
Earlier this year, the nonprofit broke ground on a new youth shelter in January, however, they failed to renew a $500,000 grant for mental health services shortly after due to “performance issues.” The loss of that grant is not expected to impact the opening of Urban Peak’s new campus, The Mothership. The organization has played an active role in securing more than $2.5 million in funding for unhoused youth services through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the newly created Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. Carlson said that Urban Peak has been part of the planning and application process for the grant for years now. The grant will be used for an array of services to help unhoused youth, including rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing. HUD regional administrator, Dominique Jackson, presented the Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative with the grant at Urban Peak’s facility on September 27. 
By Owen Swallow
