DENVER (KDVR) — The city of Denver is celebrating the opening of new housing units located right in the heart of East Colfax. The city collaborated with multiple agencies in the community to get the apartments off the ground, and they will serve a specific community of people in Denver looking for a place to live.

A portion of Denver’s unhoused community now has a new place to call home. The city said people suffering from certain cognitive illnesses will have a new place to stay.

“I want to thank you for being with us today as we celebrate the opening of one of our newest communities, Valor on the Fax,” said Jeff Martinez, president of Brothers Redevelopment.

Denver’s Department of Housing and Stability, known as HOST, and a long list of partners commemorated the opening of the Valor on the Fax affordable housing units. They’re designed for people with brain injuries who make less than $25,000 for a single-person household.

“This provides unique and special services to those who have existing brain injury and are experiencing homelessness,” said Laura Brudzynski, executive director of HOST. “So there is a special set of services available for this population, and we are honored to be working with the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado, as well as Brothers Redevelopment, to serve that unique population with this development.”

72 households connected to services

The $25 million project offers up to three-bedroom apartments for people who qualify. Though the ribbon on the units was officially cut Wednesday, Martinez said about 48 people are already living there, and about nine people are waiting to qualify. Brudzynski said coupling housing and services is something the city should be proud of.

“Really supportive housing with that robust set of services wrapped around that can help these 72 households and many others to really connect with to that stable exit to homelessness. So this is a great example of how the city is doing more to help those who are experiencing homelessness in our community,” Brudzynski said.

The city bought the land for the units back in 2017. Brudzynski said its location on East Colfax will help community members who really need it.

“We utilized our affordable housing fund resources. Those are local resources to support the purchase of this site back when it was a parking lot. We looked at this corridor, leveraging transit opportunities and other community amenities to connect affordable housing to this particular site.”

Martinez said the units opened back in April and demand to qualify for the units has been high so far.