Proposed ordinance aims to reduce homeless camps

The solution to the proliferation of homeless camps on the city’s west side and along Fountain Creek near downtown might be found in a proposed ordinance that would ban camping on public land within city limits.

A draft of the ordinance has been sitting on the desk of Kurtis Pillard, commander of the police department’s Gold Hill Division, for about 10 months. It’s now being fast-tracked because complaints from local business owners and homeowners have been pouring into the police department. City Council will hear the proposal at an informal meeting Nov. 23.

The ordinance would criminalize camping under bridges, along trailheads and near roadways, and outlaw the storage of personal property on public land. An existing ordinance prohibits overnight camping in local parks, but transients can live on other public land under loose squatters’ rights conditions.

At an informal meeting Thursday with representatives of local agencies that help the destitute, Pillard said that at least 120 campsites have popped up from Dorchester Park on South Nevada Avenue to the Marian House Soup Kitchen on East Bijou Street.

“That’s more than anybody’s seen in the past, and there’s significant pressure from people wanting to know why we can’t get rid of them,” he said.

Health and safety issues are the main concerns, Pillard said. Among the problems: human excrement in waterways and drainage ditches, public urination and nudity, giant bonfires and aggressive panhandling near stores.

Even if City Council approves the ordinance, which was written by the city attorney’s office, enforcement could be difficult, Pillard acknowledged. Cuts to next year’s city budget could wipe out the 5-month-old Homeless Outreach Team of three police officers who canvas the camps and help the homeless obtain transitional housing and other social services.

If the officers are allowed to continue their work, they would use the no-camping ordinance as a tool to help them motivate the homeless to get off the streets, said Officer Dan McCormack. Offenses under the proposed ordinance would be treated as “serve and release,” similar to receiving a traffic ticket, he said, and it would be up to the officer how to handle the situation.

“We’d use the ordinance to help people go the way they need to go. We’d call the shelter to see if there’s an opening,” McCormack said.

One problem is that Colorado Springs has only one 24/7 emergency shelter and does not have enough room to accommodate all of the homeless who camp, said Bob Holmes, executive director of Homeward Pikes Peak, which coordinates local homeless services.

The city also lacks emergency housing for people who have been drinking or using drugs, and transitional housing for couples. A grassroots movement to establish a tent city — a designated camping area with oversight, rules and facilities such as bathrooms — is in the infancy stages.

Colorado Springs is drawing transients because word has gotten out that the community is sympathetic, Holmes said, adding that stricter regulations would help curtail the growth and decrease the population.

“The question is how can we as a community be both welcoming but not enabling. Good intentions don’t always have the best outcome,” said Jason Christensen, president and chief executive of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs, which operates the local soup kitchen.