Boulder has a roadmap to addressing homelessness in the city. Now, the question is where will the money come from?

The Boulder City Council on Thursday tackled an update to the city's homelessness strategy, which included paths for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, as well as updated data points for the city's current homelessness situation.

Among the solutions presented were providing housing navigation, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and housing vouchers.

In all, the system for both families and single adults requires about a $13 million annual investment, according to the homelessness strategy. That comes from an assumption that the cost of rental services and assistance grows 10% every year through 2030. The amount needed for the system will grow to match that pace.

How the city will cover that bill is still unclear.

"I simply do not understand how you can have an action plan without understanding where you're going to fund it," said Councilmember Mark Wallach, who praised the concepts laid out in the plan. "$13 million a year is a lot of money. The assumption that the housing department will grow 10% a year for the next five years, I think, is contrary to what almost every department in the city will experience."

The report highlighted moderate- and low-income families whose income is at or below 50% of the area median income, or AMI. Some of those families, especially low-income ones, could teeter on the brink of homelessness.

Mandy Chapman Semple of Clutch Consulting told the council that a key milestone is to scale a system for Boulder families with children that are at or below the 50% AMI.

Four a household of four, 50% of AMI would be $75,300.

"What we discovered is that the city of Boulder is programming about half of those families today, so this felt like a reasonable stretch goal within a five-year period to work toward," Chapman Semple said.

Emergency solutions, the presentation shows, include short-term housing and motel vouchers. Long-term solutions can include rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and supportive housing with vouchers.

Chapman Semple said that addressing the issue could come down to three key points:

* Formalizing a response system for families experiencing homelessness.

* Creating a shared data system to track outcomes plan and target resources, and using predictive analytics to reach at-risk families.

* Expanding accessible housing options for families.

Several other councilmembers were concerned with how to cover the tab.

Matt Benjamin asked how the city will prioritize money for the homelessness strategy.

In response, city manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said that the strategy is a roadmap that "gives us the path in which to start."

"We know this is the way in which we want to move forward, and we will make some hard decisions as we go," Rivera-Vandermyde said. "... We will not get there if we don't make those hard decisions."

Rivera-Vandermyde proposed later in the meeting that a county-wide collaboration could help.

John Tayer, CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, penned a letter to the council expressing similar concern over the lack of financial clarity.

"(R)ather than seeking additional funding streams to cover the increased costs of implementing the Homeless Strategy as the first instinct, we ask the City of Boulder to prioritize allocation of the necessary funds within our current budget resources," Tayer wrote.

Boulder's July 2025 point-in-time count totaled 140 homeless individuals, up from 122 in 2024 but below 171 in 2023. The January 2025 point-in-time count was 96 this year, below 2024's count of 103 in 2024 and 2023's count of 124 individuals.

"The city's strategies to stop homelessness are working. Your inflow and point in time counts remain relatively flat," Chapman Semple said. "But, you're really stuck. For as many individuals as you're getting out of homelessness, there's that same volume of individuals coming in."

During the July count, 60 homeless individuals were polled on where they last lived in housing. Twenty-eight said the last housing they lived in was outside of Colorado, 10 said it was in Colorado but outside of Boulder, and 22 said it was in Boulder.

Fifty-eight people responded to the question of where they first became homeless. Half of those respondents said they first became homeless outside of Colorado, 11 said they were first homeless in Colorado but outside of Boulder, and 18 said they first became homeless in Boulder.

Additionally, 72% of respondents said they've been homeless for more than a year, and 70% said they spent the previous night on the street.

Addressing chronic homelessness, plus eliminating outdoor encampments, are the top two milestones of the city's strategy.