The executive director of the Pueblo Rescue Mission has resigned after just two months on the job and the city's only homeless shelter is facing an uncertain future due to a lack of funding.
Josh Lane, the now former executive director of the rescue mission, told the Chieftain Oct. 2 was his last day. Part of his decision to leave comes from family obligations, he said, but he also expressed frustration with the direction of the mission's leadership.
"I'm here as a volunteer because there was no one else," Lane said in an interview with the Chieftain Wednesday. "I was here on my own volunteer time so that they didn't have to lock the doors today."
"They have no plans on who is going to replace me, or for what they're going to do going forward," Lane continued. "My staff members are quitting in droves and it's a mess."
Lane said his brief tenure leading the Pueblo Rescue Mission following the June ousting of former Director Melanie Rapier has been the "wildest two months" of his life.
"In leadership, I've never seen this level of incompetence before," he said. "And it's a homeless shelter, it keeps people from freezing and starving to death outside. It should have been taken care of (before this)."
Pueblo Rescue Mission Board Chair Ken Wood said he was grateful for Lane's work in his time in the role.
"The Pueblo Rescue Mission is incredibly grateful for the leadership that Mr. Lane provided. In a very short time he righted many wrongs and brought things to light that needed addressed," Wood told the Chieftain in an email. "He has a deep love for this population and served selflessly in a very difficult time. Although not on staff or on site, Josh has graciously offered to help us in a volunteer capacity as his very busy schedule will allow."
Mission reducing services amid severe lack of funding
Lane's resignation comes as the Pueblo Rescue Mission is being forced to transition to an overnight-only shelter model, with all other services being shuttered for the foreseeable future.
The rescue mission's typical operating budget was formerly around $60,000 a month, Wood said, but the mission will now attempt to scale back to a budget of around $20,000 to $25,000 a month to "continue to be sustainable for the short-term and offer overnight sheltering."
Wood said the shelter has seen a 40% reduction in individual donations and the mission's financial woes have been exacerbated by a lapse in acquiring new grant funding. He said that lapse began at the beginning of the year and continued through the mission's transition to Lane as its new executive director.
Grants fund approximately 75% of the mission's operations, Wood said.
"Grants take months to go through (an) approval process, application, deadlines, all of that stuff. None of them were really done, we're in a bit of a revenue void at the moment," Wood said.
Grant funding suffers from shelter's battle over warming shelter
Additionally, some grant allocations have been reduced due to the city and community losing trust in the mission, Lane said. He said at least one organization informed him its grant allocation had been reduced due to the shelter's battle with the city over the Porchlight campus warming shelter.
The city spent $365,000 in 2023 to purchase the warming shelter building for the Pueblo Rescue Mission to serve people who are homeless during weather emergencies. However, the mission went several months without sheltering anyone at the warming shelter after a sewer line collapsed and made the building uninhabitable. The city then asked the shelter to sign over the deed to the building, alleging the rescue mission had breached its contract.
The city ultimately allowed the Pueblo Rescue Mission to keep running the warming shelter, but city officials are continuing to push for the mission to sign over the deed to the warming shelter building.
Mayor Heather Graham told the Chieftain in September that the city had been working closely with the rescue mission to see the sewer line repairs completed, which the city is funding. Graham said the city was told the repairs would be finished by Oct. 1.
Repairs on the building at 710 W. 4th St. were not finished by that deadline, but should be completed this week, Wood told the Chieftain .
"The details of how it will open for emergency sheltering are still being worked on but we are actively participating with the City in working together on an answer," Wood said.
City spokesperson Haley Sue Robinson confirmed the repairs were expected to be completed this week.
"A portion of the contract has been paid initially by the Pueblo Rescue Mission, however, the City of Pueblo is seeking the Pueblo Rescue Mission's Cooperation with signing the deed over for the 710 West Fourth Street property in order for all contractual obligation repair work to be paid in full by the City of Pueblo for the Porchlight Campus so that is available for emergency shelter operations," Robinson told the Chieftain in a text message.
Shelter staffer's alleged thefts further degrade community trust
A scandal involving the alleged theft of money from at least 12 unhoused clients by a senior staffer at the rescue mission, whom mission leadership and Pueblo police have not publicly identified, further exacerbated the public's loss of trust in the mission.
"It has eroded the trust of our organization in our community and further negatively impacted our financial situation," Wood said. "To our knowledge, no funds or donations of the Pueblo Rescue Mission were stolen or misused, only the private funds of some of the residents of our program. These individuals who were working hard to get their lives back on track are the ones directly impacted by this terrible crime."
'The time for the Pueblo Rescue Mission in Pueblo is gone'
Wood acknowledged to the Chieftain it "may be possible" the shelter has to close its doors entirely, but shelter leadership is hoping to avoid that outcome.
Lane was even less optimistic.
He stated he does not believe the rescue mission can return to the same level of funding it received in the past without a complete rebrand and a new board.
"I think the time for the Pueblo Rescue Mission in Pueblo is gone," Lane said. "It needs to be a new name and a new board."
In the short term, Wood said the rescue mission is "actively working with many in the community to create a plan for sheltering in the future and hopes to nail down those details shortly."
Nearly 30 organizations met Wednesday to discuss the future of the rescue mission, Robinson said.
"Mayor Graham and the city of Pueblo are working to find a solution for the more immediate future with the help and input of other organizations to determine next steps to serve the city's unhoused community members currently sheltering at the Pueblo Rescue Mission," Robinson said.
More on homelessness in Pueblo: Empty beds, tons of trash, no citations: Pueblo's homeless encampment sweep by the numbers
Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter@jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com .
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Rescue Mission director resigns; shelter cuts services, faces uncertain future
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