A similar effortįive years ago, Nelson’s organization joined up with a Boulder developer to create 40 supportive housing units for young adults at 1440 Pine St., where 20 units house young people who were formerly homeless and the other 20 units house young adults who exited the foster care system, he said. Youth age out of foster care in Colorado sometime between the ages of 18 and 21, said Kristin Melton, child welfare youth services manager at the state Department of Human Services. Like many other young people leaving foster care, Zaragoza wasn’t sure she’d be able to find an affordable place to live before aging out of the foster care system. “It might take my whole life to get through my deep trauma.” I think you just have to learn how to manage to deal with it,” she said. Alyah Zaragoza, 19, receives the key for her new one-bedroom unit at the Caraway Apartments in unincorporated Adams County. Moving into the Caraway won’t wipe away all of her problems though, she said. I was put in the foster system to be more successful because I wasn’t going to be as successful as I am now if I lived with my grandma or my mom.” “I like to think of it as my journey,” she said. But she said she chooses to remain optimistic. Until now, Zaragoza’s life had been chaotic, while moving from her mother’s house to her grandmother’s house and then in between different foster care placements. Zaragoza, 19, began moving her belongings into the Caraway the same week her lease ended at an independent living house in Commerce City, a placement arranged through the child welfare system. But housing advocates and developers say it’s almost impossible to keep up with the demand. The Caraway complex is part of a growing effort to create more housing for people who are leaving foster care and transitioning into adulthood.Ĭhanges in law and recognition of the lack of affordable housing for these young adults have led to other new housing projects in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, Denver, Montrose and Delta.Īt least three organizations are working to bring almost 200 new housing units to metro Denver by 2024, and a separate housing organization has created a clearinghouse to help match apartments with the young people who need them. That is such a rewarding moment.” Alyah Zaragoza surveys her new one-bedroom unit for the first time at Caraway Apartments with Community manager Julie Mendoza and Adams County Housing Choice Voucher manager Diana Hoag. “Just the other day, I was thinking, once I get those keys, I’m going to cry because I’ve come so far from having a trash bag full of clothes to literally having my own couch or my own furniture. “I used to be so scared about living on my own, thinking I couldn’t do it, but it’s really happening,” she said. “I’m really excited,” Zaragoza said last week, just days before she began moving into her new one-bedroom apartment at the Caraway, located at the old county Child and Family Services building on Broadway, just north of U.S. Alyah Zaragoza waited about six months before she was finally accepted into the new Caraway Apartments, a 116-unit complex where 12 units are set aside for young people like Zaragoza, who are transitioning out of foster care.
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