As Greeley officials expect a tighter budget in 2026, the future of the city’s housing and homelessness programs could be in a precarious spot.
Though the proposed budget for 2026 has not been released yet, officials have said lower-than-expected sales tax revenue and fewer building permits issued in 2025 may require some cuts in the city’s budget.
The Housing and Homeless Solutions departments hoped to maintain staffing and programming with a 0.5% sales tax increase that would have provided the departments with $14 million. But potential voters who were polled showed little interest in any sales tax increases, leading the city council to refrain from advancing tax increases to the ballot.
Without additional funding, the departments could see a loss of two-thirds of the the Homeless Solutions programming and a loss of 23 out of 30 staff members from the department, as well as five out of eight in the Housing Solutions department. But those potential cuts are far from certain, according to Housing Solutions Direct Deb Callies.
“I think the reason that it wasn’t necessarily highlighted or a reason for panic is that we still have the budget process to look at,” Callies said. “That ballot measure, should they have chosen it, would have paid for the department and then incentives every year to leverage housing affordability. However, the city council made the decision not to go forward.”
Callies is hopeful that the proposed budget will ensure adequate funding for the Homeless Solutions and Housing Solutions departments to negate what they had warned the council of earlier. She’s especially hopeful following the council’s recent unanimous approval of a new strategic plan for affordable housing.
If economic conditions do not improve for the city between now and when the council approves the budget, Councilman Tommy Butler said they would have to consider 5% budget cuts for almost every department.
“City staff has been asked across the board to find at least 5% cuts in pretty much every department,” he said. “Hopefully, we will not need to see across-the-board cuts like that, but we are planning for it just in case.”
From left to right: Alma Rico, Deb Callies, Krista Sibell, Cece Cervantes in a meeting about Housing solutions. (Courtesy/ Deb Callies)Keeping the shelter open
In addition to maintaining the existing staffing and programming, the $14 million in sales tax revenue would have supported the construction of a year-round shelter.
Currently, the United Way of Weld County runs the largest homeless shelter in Greeley. The overnight shelter is only open seasonally for cold weather, opening its doors in October and closing them again in April. And it has just 60 beds for the city’s homeless population of more than 540.
During the off-season, the shelter is open as a day shelter, offering people a place to shower and receive food. According to United Way Community Impact Director Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca, the shelter has acquired enough funding to perform its usual seasonal operations in 2026. Cienfuegos-Baca said they are more than willing to remain open year-round should they receive additional funding to do so from the city.
However, this will be the shelter’s final year under United Way management. United Way will soon move to a less hands-on role for housing and homeless solutions — in line with the nonprofit’s new strategic plan to operate as a collective impact organization rather than a direct-service provider and gap-filling organization.
When United Way steps away from the shelter, it will fall to the city to take over the management of the shelter until another organization can take over. And with the budget forecasts so far, Butler questions whether the city could tackle homelessness in a meaningful way, let alone progress to a year-round shelter as he’s advocated.
“For economic development purposes and just basic humanitarian needs, a year-round shelter is something we need,” Butler said. “I don’t think that’ll get accomplished for the next year or two with the budget we’re looking at. I don’t see us moving forward on homelessness in a way that’s productive for our community in the next year.”
Since the council passed a camping ban in June, more people have relied on the shelter as a place to go.
“There has been an increase in utilization of the day’s shelter, specifically for showers and laundry and those types of things,” Cienfuegos-Baca said. “We see an uptick, especially on the days when the temperature gets really high. So we’re expected to see an increase.”
Prevention is key
Many city officials, including Callies and Butler, have said it is easier to prevent homelessness than to help people out of it.
With nearly 20% in Greeley spending more than half of their income on housing costs, according to a survey presented at the East Greeley Subarea Plan meeting earlier this month, more residents need assistance to remain housed. United Way’s Housing Navigation Center, located at the shelter, helps provide this assistance.
“We are seeing an increase in more people coming in for homeless prevention services. So more people who are in housing, but due to certain circumstances, need assistance with some rental assistance or eviction prevention, or they will become homeless,” Cienfuegos-Baca said.
Though rental assistance is primarily a feature of the Homeless Solutions department, Callies and the Housing Solutions department also play a role by working to increase the availability of affordable housing. In 2026, the department plans to build out the legal and financial structures to provide incentives to developers to make affordable homes — a key part of the strategic plan the council recently approved.
However, should the upcoming budget provide less funding than what they hope, Callies said it would have a significant impact on what they can accomplish, resulting in scaled-back expectations for the next year.
Butler is concerned scaling back the city’s work on these issues would snowball into a bigger issue, resulting in more people without housing and making it more difficult for the city to address homelessness.
“Homelessness is a housing issue, and we know we need a lot more housing, particularly affordable housing, in our community,” Butler said. “So if we don’t start building it now, we’re just trying to get further and further behind; this issue is going to get worse and worse.”
The city council is expected to receive the first draft of the proposed 2026 budget in September and will approve it in October before the election. At that time, the city will have a better grasp on what cuts may be needed.
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