Denver nonprofit opens youth homeless shelter

The shelter, dubbed by Urban Peak as the "Mothership Campus," serves homeless individuals between ages 12 and 24.

A long-awaited project to reduce youth homelessness came to fruition on Wednesday as Denver nonprofit Urban Peak opened its $38 million, 136-bed homeless shelter.

The shelter, dubbed the "Mothership Campus," serves homeless people ages 12 to 24.

“I am so overwhelmed by this moment,” Urban Peak CEO Christina Carlson told the Denver Gazette on the shelter's new fourth floor balcony overlooking downtown Denver’s skyline. “But it's not the most important moment. The most important moment is when the youth walk through the door.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, center, and Urban Peak CEO Christina Carlson, center right, commemorate the opening of their 'Mothership Campus' on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Tom Hellauer

Urban Peak is a service provider focused on youth homelessness. Carlson describes the Mothership Campus as a “trauma informed” care center exclusively for youth struggling with homelessness.

Once a single-story shelter at 1630 S. Acoma St., the shelter now offers four floors of living units, case management and life skills courses. 

Wednesday’s opening followed eight years of tedious planning, a result that nonprofit officials call a first-of-its-kind solution to curbing youth homelessness, doing so by "getting young people off the streets and out of a system that is built to support chronically homeless adults," Urban Peak officials said in a statement.

“There’s nothing like it anywhere else in the country,” Carlson said, adding Urban Peaks now has "a space where people feel valued just walking through the door.”