Brothers Redevelopment joined Arapahoe County and community partners on Aug. 25 to celebrate the groundbreaking of Wagoner on the Creek, a new affordable housing community that will provide 60 apartments and on-site supportive services for justice-involved residents in Arapahoe County’s 18th Judicial District.
Located at 1850 S. Chambers Road in Aurora, Wagoner on the Creek will offer affordable homes to individuals earning less than 30% of the area median income (AMI), while connecting residents with services designed to support long-term housing stability, health and overall well-being.
“The project recognizes something very simple, but so very important: housing is not the reward for getting your life together, but housing is often the foundation that makes getting one’s life together possible,” said Brothers Redevelopment President Jeff Martinez.
Wagoner on the Creek responds to findings from Arapahoe County identifying a critical shortage of supportive housing for justice-involved individuals with behavioral health needs. By combining affordable housing with on-site services, the community will help address some of the barriers that can make it difficult for people to maintain stable housing and move forward.
The need for supportive housing to support justice-involved members of the community is pronounced. A four-year study from the Arapahoe County Criminal Justice Planning Office found that individuals experiencing homelessness re-enter jail on new charges at a 46% higher rate than housed individuals. The study also found that people experiencing homelessness serve sentences that are 44% longer overall.
That’s why the county tapped an experienced services provider to work with Brothers when it was selected to develop the project. Englewood-based AllHealth Network will provide comprehensive, on-site services for future Wagoner residents. AllHealth will lead case management, behavioral health counseling, peer navigation and employment support, among other services. The organization will also lead a group of health and behavioral health providers, including Aurora Mental Health & Recovery and STRIDE Community Health Center.
The projects sits at the intersection of housing stability and public safety. That’s why residents will also have access to additional support and justice system navigation through partnerships with Arapahoe County and state agencies and programs, including the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Arapahoe County Human Services, the Pretrial Services/Pretrial Mental Health Program, and the Colorado 18th Judicial District’s Bridges Program and Problem Solving Courts.
“Arapahoe County’s investment, vision and support of this project is, in many ways, unprecedented,” Martinez said. “They identified the challenge, pulled the right team together to identify the solution and prioritized funding to get it done. If more jurisdictions did this, we’d crack a lot more of the housing challenges that we face as a region.”
The agency should know, as Wagoner presents the third time over the past decade that it has formally worked with a jurisdiction to tailor a housing solution important to each community. In 2017, Brothers worked with the City of Aurora to build the Paris Family Apartments, a 39-unit affordable community that serves families.
Three years later, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency was selected to work with the City and County of Denver to develop Valor on the Fax, a 72-unit permanent supportive housing community that serves individuals with an acquired brain injury. Wagoner on the Creek is yet another example of the agency centering the needs of a community by teaming with a local government.
“Projects like Wagoner on the Creek don’t happen because one organization has a good idea, he said. “They happen because public leaders, community partners, service providers, funders, and advocates decide that the need is real, the solution is worth pursuing, and the work is worth doing.
The $31 million project is made possible through the support of PNC Bank, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Arapahoe County, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the City of Aurora, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Bank.
The development team includes Calcon Constructors as general contractor, Shopworks Architecture, 2Oaks Construction and RMM Advisors.
Wagoner on the Creek is expected to open in October of 2027.
