Above photo: Urban Peak.
When 19-year-old C.J. Kesner moved into The Mothership six months ago, he had already cycled through multiple relatives’ homes across three states. Disagreements and broken trust had left him without a stable place to live.
Now living at The Mothership, a youth homelessness shelter model that opened two years ago in Denver, Kesner has a bed to sleep in. He also sees a therapist, joins group activities with other residents, can access medical care, and has a case manager who placed him on a waitlist for housing serving people with autism.
“It’s a warm, safe place to go and be welcomed under the wings of other people,” Kesner says, adding that he feels like he’s getting back on his feet for the first time in years. And recent data suggests the facility’s Housing First model helps youth like Kesner transition out of homelessness significantly faster and cheaper than more traditional options, offering a potential solution that other homeless service providers can adopt.
“This has reinvented shelter, and we should be doing it for everybody, everywhere,” says Christina Carlson, CEO of Urban Peak, the local nonprofit that runs The Mothership.
Urban Peak was founded in 1988 to provide temporary daytime shelter to homeless youth in Denver. The nonprofit has since grown to serve more than 1,000 youths per year, providing services ranging from case management and housing navigation to supportive services.
In March, Urban Peak published the results of an independent study by data analytics firm QREM, which found that homeless youths are exiting The Mothership to permanent housing within 33 days on average at a cost of just $7,812 per youth. For comparison, a new housing voucher program targeted toward homeless youth costs about $10,000 per voucher, The Colorado Sun reported.
The study, commissioned by Urban Peak and completed last fall, analyzed data from 2,589 individuals Urban Peak served between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30, 2025. “The Mothership is helping youth reach positive permanent housing outcomes on average three times faster than the rate seen before the Mothership was operational,” analysts concluded in their report, adding that they were “confident that the reason for this increased rate is due to the building itself and the way programs and services can be delivered to the youth” within the building.
Addressing youth homelessness
Youth homelessness is one of the most complex social issues cities face. Children, adolescents and teens can become homeless for similar reasons as adults, like leaving an abusive home, but many services and shelters are not designed to meet the needs of young people.
Defining youth homelessness is also challenging. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines youth homelessness as anyone under the age of 24 who lacks a fixed and stable place to sleep. The Department of Education includes youth who have run away from home, live in motels, and are doubled up with friends or family. States also have their own definitions of youth homelessness, which can further complicate the matter.
Altogether, there are roughly 4.2 million homeless individuals aged 13 to 25 nationwide, many of whom are homeless without a parent or legal guardian. That’s according to a 2018 report from the Voices of Youth Count, the most recent survey data.
The Colorado Department of Education estimates there are more than 24,000 homeless students across the state at the end of the 2024 school year, and about 10% of that total are in Denver County schools.
The total number of homeless youth in Denver represents an increase of more than 56%, or roughly 8,600 students, since the 2020-2021 school year. However, a 2025 study by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz campus suggests that the total is likely a significant undercount.
Denver’s primary method of addressing homelessness is through congregate shelter, as it is in other cities across the U.S. However, Denver had just 96 beds available for homeless youth in 2024, with 72 of those in transitional housing settings, according to federal data. That total number of available emergency shelter beds represents a 55% decline since 2019.
“If congregate beds were the answer, these problems would have been solved decades ago,” Chad Holtzinger, architect and president of Shopworks Architecture, a dignified design firm in Denver that designed The Mothership, said in a statement.
Building the Mothership
The Mothership was born out of a nearly decade-long process to reimagine how Urban Peak can better meet the scale of need in Denver, Carlson says. She described the process as involving “thousands” of meetings with community groups and homeless youths, as well as Urban Peak’s board and staff.
Through that process, Urban Peak learned there is a gap between congregate shelter and permanent housing that needs to be addressed. For instance, two large shelters in the Denver metro area closed over the last couple of years due to a lack of funding: The Source in Boulder and The Place in Colorado Springs. Those closures left dozens of homeless youth with nowhere else to go.
The Mothership addresses that gap by combining services and housing options that help people build life skills and a sense of community before they move into more permanent options, she adds. Students who live at The Mothership can access GED test preparation and take the test at the center as well.
The four-story building has 136 shelter beds as well as on-site medical care, case management, employment training, and educational classes. The beds are divided into five distinct “neighborhoods” organized by resource needs, including a neighborhood dedicated to minors aged 12-17, one for people recovering from substance abuse challenges, and one for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The new building was funded by a $16.8 million injection from Denver’s voter-approved RISE bond program, $11 million from the New Market Tax Credit, $3.8 million from the state of Colorado, a $3 million investment from the federal government, and $4 million in private donations.
Putting housing first
The Mothership follows a Housing First model, whereby youth receive a bed, food, and access to basic hygiene services before moving into more complex services such as legal aid or mental health treatment.
Housing First is a service delivery method that prioritizes placing someone experiencing homelessness in housing as quickly as possible. The model was first developed in New York in the 1990s and was adopted as a federal policy in 2004 during the George W. Bush administration. Housing First was the primary approach the federal government used to address homelessness before the Trump administration ended the practice by executive order in 2025.
A 2020 systematic review of 26 studies on Housing First concluded that it reduced homelessness by 88% and led to significant reductions in emergency department use and hospitalizations. Research has also shown that Housing First programs like can disrupt justice system involvement and improve mental health outcomes for homeless youth.
At Urban Peak, this process has yielded a couple of significant results, according to QREM’s analysis. For example, youth at the Mothership receive services at a younger age and stay connected with wellbeing services, employment, and housing options longer than before the campus opened, according to the report. Youth also progress more rapidly through the Mothership’s services compared to other offerings.
QREM’s analysis found that youth at the Mothership spent an average of five months receiving wellbeing services – food, hygiene, and a bed – which halved the historical average time youth spent in these services before the Mothership opened. The Mothership also increased the amount of time homeless youth received education, employment, and permanent connection services, according to the report.
Kesner says meeting youth at the Mothership who have had similar experiences helped shift his perspective on homelessness. For instance, Kesner said he met an individual named “Bones” during a meditation class. After they talked about their past experiences, Kesner says he realized they had much more in common than he had thought. That relationship has also helped Kesner feel a sense of belonging at the Mothership.
“I know my friends here have my back,” Kesner says.
Carlson says one of the keys to the Mothership’s success is that it makes youth guests and staff feel safe, which Shopworks Architecture baked into the building’s design. The four-story building features high ceilings, abundant natural light, and unobstructed sightlines on every floor. Each floor includes natural wood tones and soft paint colors to create a calming atmosphere. There are also no sharp corners, which Carlson says is an intentional feature for youth with a history of institutionalization.
“The real question we should be asking is, ‘How can we create an ecosystem that helps youth experiencing homelessness build self-determined, fulfilled lives?’” Holtzinger says. “Environments like The Mothership are the answer to this important question.”
Going forward, Carlson hopes other nonprofits serving homeless youth will adopt the Mothership model.
“We can solve homelessness,” Carlson says. “A model like this can be applied to lots of different populations, whether it’s seniors, families, or recovery communities.”
