“The visibility of homelessness has dramatically increased, and like many people, I am bothered by it on so many different levels and emotions,” says Volin, adding that between 2016 and 2021, the homeless population in Denver increased by 40 percent, twelve times faster than the city’s housed population. “I didn’t want to be angry or bothered by the situation. I wanted to be part of the solution.”

After working with a handful of community-service organizations, Volin noticed a gap. While one organization helped with finding employment, another focused on mental health, and another on housing. What really needed to happen, he thought, was to put it all together. 

“It’s hard for these organizations to work efficiently when they are all independent,” he says. “It’s called the ‘three legs of the stool’: You can’t get a job if you don’t have housing, but you can’t keep housing if you don’t have a job, and you can’t get housed or [keep] a job if you don’t have mental health.”

Housed Working & Healthy’s goal is to train able-bodied people without a home who want to work and become self sufficient by teaching skills needed to take a job inside a restaurant or commercial kitchen. Volin and his team find participants by partnering with local housing agencies and shelters to identify and recruit people who are ready to start working.