Local housing issues and options draw new attention |
By Mary Barron
 Veldean Petri knows
firsthand the challenges of fixing up old homes here in the
Cripple Creek-Victor District. Now she is learning in depth the
troubles ordinary workers and families in our area encounter in
their searches for decent places to live that won’t bust the
budget.
During a round-table meeting that Petri attended with state and
county officials in December, it seemed clear that “affordable
housing is a giant issue,” Petri said. “Southern Teller County
needs it and has some very low-income residents.” The parties
agreed at least that housing should be “attainable” for the local
workforce, including teachers, firefighters, casino workers and
single parents.
Searching for ways to make it so, and also for ways to help
the homeless and near-homeless
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our end of the county, is a major part of Petri’s mission
under a Title V Delinquency-Prevention Grant funded by the
Colorado Department of Justice. The relationship between
delinquency and basic needs for care and shelter is
well-documented and forms the rationale for the grant’s goals.
“Health care, mental health care and housing — if those are
available it reduces the rate of delinquency,” Petri said.
From her base at the Aspen Mine Center, Petri does her best
to patch together suitable pieces of available housing
programs for clients, such as low-interest loan programs for
home repairs, but she has found the programs less than
user-friendly.
Our area also needs to create options like structured
transitional housing for families on the verge of
homelessness, she said. Training in life skills, such as
organization and budgeting, would be part of the
program. |
Veldean
Petri
In fulfilling the requirements of the grant, administered
by Teller County with Community of Caring Chairman Mary Bielz
serving as program director, Petri hopes to uncover better
models for addressing people’s housing needs in communities
like ours. Then she hopes to put some new solutions into
action. | |
When counseling is in order, professionals are nearby |
By Mary Barron
Our little mountain communities have pluses and minuses all
their own.
James
M. Simson
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“One of the things that seems to happen in rural
communities is you get isolated. With isolation, drug,
alcohol, mental and emotional problems almost always get
worse,” said licensed clinical social worker James M.
Simson.
When stresses boil over into the kinds of dangerous
situations that land people in court-ordered counseling,
Simson and his colleagues are available at the Aspen Mine
Center with the classes and counseling to help set things
right.
In addition to the group therapy and anger-management
classes for domestic violence offenders that Simson started
here in late 2003, he recently started up
a group for | |
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adolescents in need of drug and alcohol counseling and
education.
“Besides the location, the major advantage to our group is
having both a male and a female leader,” Simson said. Some
teens learn better from a counselor of one gender or the
other. Claudia Lambert, a licensed professional counselor,
fills the other leadership role in the adolescent group. The
two leaders are associated through Journeys Counseling
Center.
Although the youngsters in the group are primarily there
due to court orders, parents may also arrange on their own for
their kids, ages 13-18, to attend if they need treatment.
Simson is also available to give talks to groups. | | |