In 2001, the state began operating an academic model juvenile
facility on the parcel of real property formerly known as the Lowry bombing range and currently referred to as the Ridge View campus. The juvenile facility, known as the Ridge View Youth Services Center, operated for 20 years at the Ridge View campus until the state closed the
facility in 2021. The bill requires that the Ridge View campus be repurposed and converted into the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community to provide transitional housing, a continuum of behavioral health service treatment, medical care, vocational training, and skill development for its residents and the general public.
The department of human services (department) is required to
transfer ownership of all or part of the Ridge View campus to the department of personnel for use by the division of housing (division) for the purposes of repurposing the Ridge View campus. The division, in collaboration with the behavioral health administration and the department of human services, is required to develop a feasible master plan for the redevelopment and operations of the Ridge View campus and is required to enter into one or more contracts with private contractors to establish the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community at the Ridge View campus.
The Ridge View Supportive Residential Community is required to
provide the following services and programs:
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A transitional housing program for individual adults with case management, care coordination, and vocational and housing placement assistance;
•
A continuum of behavioral health services and treatment, informed by American Society of Addiction Medicine standards, available to people coming from the transitional housing program and to the general public; and
•
A federally qualified health clinic at which people have access to medical treatments that help facilitate recovery, including medical and dental care and a continuum of behavioral health services. The health clinic and all behavioral health services and treatment are required to be accessible to people receiving other treatment at the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community, people residing in the transitional housing, and the general public.
The bill specifies eligibility criteria for the programs and services
that will be offered at the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community and specifies how individuals may be referred to the community.
For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the bill requires the general
assembly to appropriate money from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the division for the repurposing of the Ridge View campus and authorizes the division to use up to 10% of the amount appropriated for its administrative costs in connection with the repurposing of the Ridge View campus. The bill requires the division to comply with specified reporting requirements.
