Denver’s new apartment building caters to homeless who have been traumatized after years on the streets
Sunlight fills every corridor, the exit visible even from the opposite end of the apartment building.
Its 60 bedrooms have no doors to shut, but, instead, window-sized wall cutouts to see through to the living room. And the “safe courtyard,” filled with deep-pink rose bushes and shade umbrellas, is open to the sky yet fenced off to prevent outside entry from Federal Boulevard.
The design is unique in Colorado and rare nationally, a “trauma-informed” apartment building that soon will house people who for years have lived on Denver’s streets, in and out of jail, detox and emergency rooms. There are no crevices, nothing that resembles a dark alley or shadowy stairwell.
“These are the folks who are really resistant to treatment. They didn’t sign up for it,” said Joann Toney, director of clinical housing services for the Mental Health Center of Denver which will open Sanderson Apartments to its first residents next week.
DENVER, CO – AUGUST 24: Mental Health Center of Denver’s Sanderson Apartments, a three-story 50,000 sq. ft. building that features 60 one-bedroom apartments for homeless folks August 24, 2017. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
DENVER, CO – AUGUST 24: Mental Health Center of Denver’s Sanderson Apartments, a three-story 50,000 sq. ft. building that features 60 one-bedroom apartments for homeless folks August 24, 2017. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)