A Denver nonprofit says it has kept 106 families and 211 children out of shelters and off the street in the first year of a new prevention program, even as eviction filings across the metro area hover near historic highs. Denver Rescue Mission launched the effort in October 2025, pairing case managers with families before they ever receive an eviction notice, and the group says the early numbers show the model is working.
The program averaged $2,905 in one-time financial assistance per household and logged 1,398 hours of direct services over its first year, according to FOX31 Denver. Case managers build individualized plans for each family, intervening when a medical bill, a car repair, or a temporary job loss threatens to tip a housed family into homelessness. Denver Rescue Mission President and CEO Dennis Van Kampen said the first-year figures represent children who will not experience shelters or sleep in cars, per the same report.
The urgency behind the push is stark. Family homelessness in Denver rose 134% in 2025, according to a Denver Department of Housing Stability report cited in the FOX31 account. That spike has unfolded alongside a broader eviction crisis: Denver County Court recorded 15,953 eviction cases in 2025, nearly matching 2024's record of 15,960 and marking a 72% jump compared to pre-pandemic filing rates, according to Denverite.
A Family's Brush With Eviction
The program's first assisted family was Audrianna and Cole Baker, who faced immediate eviction risk after income from serving as paid caregivers for their 8-year-old son Maddix stopped during his extended hospital stay for open-heart surgery, according to CBS Colorado. Audrianna, who has two boys, said the prevention program helped her family during a stressful time, per Denver Rescue Mission. Her family nearly faced eviction and rising medical bills following the hospital stay, a reminder of how quickly a medical emergency can upend a working household's housing stability.
Van Kampen has said helping a family exit homelessness costs far more than preventing it in the first place, and he has argued that keeping children housed now could reduce generational poverty and homelessness 10, 15, or 20 years down the line. The program provided an average of $2,905 in one-time assistance per household in its first year.
Reaching Families Before Court Dates
To catch families earlier, Denver Rescue Mission's prevention program partners with Jefferson County and Poudre school districts, embedding caseworkers who can spot warning signs of housing distress as early as the first week of school, according to Denver7. That school-based referral system lets staff flag at-risk families before they face court-ordered removal, rather than after an eviction judgment, which can remain on a person's record and make it harder to obtain housing.
The nonprofit expanded that model further this month, adding a partnership with Clayton Early Learning starting in October 2026 to reach children from birth through age five. The move reflects a broader concern about youth vulnerability: the 2025 Colorado State of Homelessness Report found that 2,214 youth experienced homelessness in Metro Denver last year, a 9.5% increase from 2024, while the number of young people seeking homeless services grew 15.3%, Denverite reported.
A Safety Net Under Strain
Denver proposed a $12.2 million 2026 budget for its Temporary Rental and Utility Assistance program. Denver's Department of Housing Stability anticipated a $229 million investment in its 2025 Action Plan for housing and homelessness initiatives.
In March, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative was selected as one of 10 national pilot sites for the Right at Home initiative, securing $5 million over three years to scale flexible financial assistance and case management for families facing eviction across the metro area, a shift Hoodline covered in its report on Denver's $5 million homelessness lifeline. The initiative's most recent Point-In-Time Count, released May 20, 2026, found total homelessness across the seven-county Denver metro area fell 8%, from 10,774 in 2025 to 9,950 in 2026, with unsheltered homelessness down 21%.
Denver Rescue Mission offers one-time financial assistance to families and explains that emergencies such as medical problems, car repairs, or temporary job loss can leave otherwise stable, housed families suddenly homeless — the exact scenario the Bakers found themselves navigating before the nonprofit's case managers stepped in.
