A transitional living facility that houses people with mental health challenges in Northglenn is facing renewed safety concerns, leading the northern suburb’s mayor to claim that the state’s human services department isn’t doing enough to protect neighbors.
Since opening about two years ago, the residential facility — which houses people transitioning from a hospital setting in a pair of adjacent buildings — has had dozens of police runs. Some of those have been for violent incidents, Mayor Meredith Leighty said.
“We recognize and support the critical need for expanded mental health services,” she told The Denver Post in an email. “But good intentions on their own are not enough, and cannot be enough, when the safety of our communities is at stake and the state does not take those concerns seriously.”
Before the facility opened its doors at 11255 and 11275 Grant Drive, a group of Northglenn citizens rose up in opposition to the state’s plan to house some sex offenders in the 32-bed facility. The state backed down after the outcry.
But there are still too many problems at the Mental Health Transitional Living Home, said Leighty, who declined an interview Tuesday because of an illness. In an email, she wrote that since the facility opened in 2024, police have received 78 calls for service.
“That far exceeds what we would expect from comparable residential settings,” she said. “These are also not minor incidents. They include disturbances, assaults, and repeated welfare checks, each placing a sustained and growing strain on our officers and surrounding neighborhoods.”
The most alarming incident, Leighty said, came in January when one resident of the transitional facility stabbed another and then tried to attack responding police officers. The two-building complex is close to an elementary school and a playground.
“This was not an isolated failure,” the mayor said. “It exposed deeper systemic issues: inadequate screening, insufficient on-site supervision and an overreliance on law enforcement to manage complex behavioral health crises.”
Stephanie Fredrickson, a spokeswoman with Colorado’s Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, said her agency was taken aback at Northglenn’s ire. Negotiations over how to handle things at the facility are still underway, she said. The office is under the Colorado Department of Human Services.
“The state has extended and memorialized its statewide internal policy to not admit individuals who are required to register pursuant to the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act… for at least the next five years,” Fredrickson wrote in an email.
Bonnie Wright, the division director for the Mental Health Transitional Living Homes program, was not available for an interview Tuesday.
The facility is part of a program that the legislature created in 2022 to help people with mental illnesses transition from hospital settings to a lower level of care as they reenter the community. The legislation called for the state to create, develop or contract with providers for 125 beds statewide covering different levels of care.
The agency, Fredrickson said, had been working with Northglenn officials to draft an agreement to implement safety protocols and improve operations at the mental health transitional home on Grant Drive. She said the latest discussions were last week.
“The state has engaged in these meetings in good faith and considered them productive interactions, which have addressed all of Northglenn’s stated objectives,” she said. “The state remains committed to working with the Northglenn community to provide excellent service for those in need of transitional services, and would appreciate the same commitment to good faith collaboration from the city.”
Lawmakers at the state Capitol introduced a bill this session that would bar any sex offenders from being housed in a mental health residential facility that is located within 1,000 feet of a school. Stukey Elementary is less than 1,000 feet from the Northglenn transitional living home.
“I’ve never seen the community engage on an issue as much as this one,” said state Sen. Kyle Mullica, an Adams County Democrat and a co-sponsor of House Bill 1285.
Codifying the sex offender prohibition in state law, he said, is necessary to establish safety in the community.
“The question comes back: Why not codify it and make it permanent?” Mullica said. “I think the community has a right to ask for that.”
One of the people to testify in favor of the bill during a hearing Tuesday was Northglenn Police Chief James May. There’s not enough accountability being asked of the clients at the Northglenn transitional home — to the detriment of the community, he said.
“If you don’t give them structure, they’re going to do what they did that led them in this direction,” May said. “They need to do a better job of core management.”
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