Dr. Myron Waddell, a physician who worked in Denver's inner city during the 1960s, conceived Warren Village after observing an increasing number of single-parent families and accompanying high rates of poverty, family violence and homelessness. An active member of Warren United Methodist Church, Dr. Waddell envisioned an "intentional community" of single parent families who could live in a safe and decent temporary home while working toward self sufficiency. Over a period of nearly ten years, Warren Church bought eight plots of land, razed the existing buildings, and donated the land for the creation of an urban village.
With support from the local business community, church leaders convinced HUD to support the creation of Warren Village through Section 236 mortgage subsidy and rental assistance payments through the (then new) Section 8 program. In 1974, Warren Village became the nation's first federally subsidized transitional housing program for single-parent families.
