Helping Homeless Senior Women and Women Veterans Find Hope and Community

In 2023, more than 25,000 homeless women veterans in the U.S. were served by the Veterans Health Administration’s homeless programs. Additionally, homelessness among women veterans increased last year by nearly 24 percent according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In that same period, the number of unsheltered women veterans—those living on the streets, in a car or in another unsafe situation—jumped nearly 48%, from 1,464 to 2,165.

VOA Colorado is combating this alarming trend through several of our programs and services, including the Sinton Sanctuary. The 24/7 facility is specifically for senior women and women veterans and can accommodate as many as 28 women at a time. The space offers a dormitory, case management space, as well as a living room and an outdoor patio.

Sinton Sanctuary was the inspiration of Lindi Sinton, who served as VOA Colorado’s division director for 35 years and then its vice president for program operations until her well-deserved retirement last year. Guided by the fact that women veterans can face many unique challenges when returning to civilian life, including raising children on their own, dealing with the psychological after-effects of events such as military or sexual trauma, or employment and housing barriers, and by the fact that without intervention, women veterans are often at greater risk of homelessness, the facility opened its doors in 2015. 

Sinton said a shelter for older women was envisioned during the planning for her organization’s Bill Daniels Veteran Services Center, which opened in 2015, at 1247 Santa Fe Drive, to provide consolidated services to veterans facing homelessness and other challenges. 

At the time of the facility’s opening, the round-the-clock model was called “transformative” by Britta Fisher, head of the Denver’s housing department. 

Today, Sinton remains one of Colorado’s most impactful support services for senior women and women veterans. Helping them to rebuild and transform their lives with optimism and purpose.