Recuperative Care Center opens in downtown Denver

(Courtesy of Colorado Coalition for the Homeless)

By Margaret Jackson / NewsBreak Denver

(Denver, Colo.) A mixed-use development serving the housing and healthcare needs of people experiencing homelessness opened Thursday.

The Renaissance Legacy Lofts and Stout Street Recuperative Care Center at 2175 California St. will provide healthcare services 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,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said. “Today’s opening underscores our housing-first approach and is a huge step forward in building a healthy, housed and connected Denver. 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 gap in services for people who are healthy enough to leave the hospital but do not have homes where they can recover safely. By late this year, the Recuperative Care 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 or shelters, which are not equipped to deal with medical needs.

“The desperation of those experiencing homelessness as well as those serving them in shelters and hospitals that really had to place for them to go made a strong case for the development of this integrated housing and health building,” said Colorado Coalition for the Homeless President and CEO John Parvensky.