PUEBLO — The Pueblo Homeless Shelter is receiving more funding from the city. This week, Pueblo City Council reallocated $464,847 of capital improvement funds to the shelter.
The new funding came from multiple different sources. In a statement to KOAA News5, a spokesperson for the City of Pueblo wrote the following:
“The City of Pueblo looked at previous project accounts that had been allocated, but were no longer needed due project completion, excess contingency funding or project accounts that could be closed with excess funding in order to assist with the funding source for the RFP. This was important, in order to approach City Council for approval without asking for additional funding from the General Fund.”
The city pulled money from unused or excess funds from city projects that are complete and/or have extra money left over.
David Tinnell is the day to day Manager of the Pueblo Homeless Shelter.
“My biggest concern is our donations, our funding. You know, people in the community that used to support us, when all the bad things happened, it dropped off,” said Tinnell.
He said the staff at the shelter are working to make improvements, change the reputation, and create trust with the community again.
“This is the best I've ever seen. It's amazing right now,” said Tinnell.
Tinnell said in his nearly four years working at the homeless shelter, this is the best he has ever seen it.
“Before the budget was so tight for the old director, sometimes she'd struggle to make payroll. Sometimes something would break and we'd have to patch it up. Now we just give the city a call, they're over here and they're fixing things,” said Tinnell.
The city took ownership of the shelter back in October.
“The heater went out, and we had Jim Butler here on the roof in the middle of a snow storm, fixing it. Mike Purdy was here. You know, the plumbers, electricians, it's just been amazing,” said Tinnell.
While the shelter has improved with city oversight, Tinnell said the next hurdle is funding.
“We struggled to do payroll and do maintenance repairs, and with this yes vote, we're going to be in good shape,” said Tinnell.
On Monday night, Pueblo City Council reallocated more than $460,000 to the shelter.
“Due to the unexpected nature of the Pueblo Shelter coming to the City of Pueblo in October of 2024 and the former nonprofit Pueblo Rescue Mission dissolving, funding for this RFP was necessary. In 2025, these funds will be discussed in the budget process for fiscal year 2026, where there was no budget for the shelter because they dissolved in December. The City currently has oversight over the Pueblo Shelter and needed to allocate funding to the RFP for the next shelter provider to be successful for the remainder of 2025.”
“I think the mayor and her staff worked endlessly on this to try to find money that may have been pushed aside, and I think the City Council realized that they said, 'Wow, you put a lot of hard work into this finding funding.' And I think that being the only homeless shelter in Pueblo means we've got to keep the doors open,” said Tinnell.
Tinnell thinks the money could be used for payroll, utilities, and the everyday budget.
However, what the funds are used on is up to whoever takes over the shelter operations full time. The city is currently reviewing applications and will make that decision by the end of May.
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