City leaders joined with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless today to celebrate the launch of a first-of-its kind mixed-use development to serve the housing and healthcare needs of people experiencing homelessness. The Renaissance Legacy Lofts and Stout Street Recuperative Care Center, located at 2175 California St., will meet the immediate health care needs for 500 people experiencing homelessness annually through medical respite and recuperative care, while also providing 98 units of affordable and supportive housing.

“Legacy Lofts is a game-changing resource for our community. Today’s opening underscores our housing first approach and is a huge step forward in building a healthy, housed, and connected Denver,” Mayor Michael B. Hancock said. “Housing and health are inextricably linked, and Legacy Lofts will stand as a beacon of opportunity for our unhoused neighbors for decades to come.”

The Stout Street Recuperative Care Center fills a significant gap in services for people who are healthy enough to leave the hospital but do not have homes to assist them in recovering safely. By late 2022, the center will provide 75 medical respite beds for people experiencing homelessness who, if housed, would be discharged to home but who cannot be safely discharged to the streets, nor to shelters, which are not equipped to deal with medical needs.

The Coalition’s President and CEO, John Parvensky, who recently announced his pending retirement after 37 years at the helm of the Coalition remarked, “The desperation of those experiencing homelessness as well as those serving them in shelters and hospitals that really had no place for them to go made a strong case for the development of this integrated housing and health building.”

Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who helped to facilitate $2 million in congressionally-directed spending to the project from the U.S. Congress added, “John Parvensky and his team present a model for how to address this complex problem of homelessness throughout our country. This new facility is going to be able to provide help to hundreds of more people right here in the heart of Denver and at the time when they’re the most vulnerable and susceptible to debilitating issues.”

The aptly named project is a true legacy for John Parvensky, who has overseen the organization for nearly four decades. Mayor Hancock presented a proclamation declaring October 6 “John Parvensky Day” in Denver, and presented Parvensky with the city challenge coin, which the Mayor awards to individuals who make extraordinary differences in the Denver community.

The Stout Street Recuperative Care Center will also be named after Parvenksy, as announced by Coalition Board Chair Joel Neckers and Former Board Chair TR Reid.

Denver’s Department of Housing Stability provided $4.1 million toward the project, including performance loans to support construction, a grant to fund the recuperative care center, and supportive services contracts to fund intensive case management services, housing stabilization, access to a multidisciplinary treatment team, and linkage to community supports.

Site acquisition for the project was made possible through resources from a partnership between the City and County of Denver and the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). The “DHA Delivers for Denver” Program (D3) has utilized property tax mill levy revenue to create a surge of $129 million in bond funding to accelerate the development and preservation of nearly 2,500 affordable housing units over 10 years.

Legacy Lofts is the latest city-supported affordable housing development to open in Denver. A total of 1,267 affordable units receiving city financing are currently under construction at 26 sites across Denver. An additional 513 income-restricted units are in the planning stage. 

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