AURORA | They sleep in tents, under bridges, hidden by shadows, in empty parking lots and abandoned buildings, in recesses around the city where they hope they won’t be found.
Some of the city’s habitually homeless people say they don’t plan on changing their habits, even under the threat of a homeless camping ban that Aurora City Council members will consider passing in July.
The measure would mirror an ordinance in Denver that took effect in late May, making camping on public and private property punishable by a fine and possible jail time.
“In the wintertime we’ll all welcome going to jail,” said a homeless man who was passing time near the Martin Luther King Jr. library in north Aurora on a recent Friday morning. The man, who didn’t want to be identified by his real name but calls himself “Al,” said he became homeless about two months ago. Any ordinance banning him from sleeping on the city’s streets wouldn’t deter him, he said.
City attorneys are in the process of drafting the ordinance, which will come before the Aurora City Council at a meeting July 23.
The proposal is being backed by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, and its main objective is to dissuade Denver’s homeless from migrating into Aurora — an issue that city officials say is not a problem yet. Aurora lawmakers like Mayor Steve Hogan are doubtful that an ordinance like this one is needed to address a future potential predicament. “I am not convinced that we’re going to see a flood of people coming from Denver,” Hogan said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be proactive if need be, but I don’t know that we also need to react as though we’re going to be overrun, because we’re not going to be.”
Some of the city’s homeless say they haven’t seen an influx of Denver-based homeless people crossing the Aurora border.
“I don’t think a lot of those people are going to come up here,” said a homeless man who goes by the street name “Howco.” He didn’t want to divulge the specific locations where he sleeps for fear of getting caught violating Aurora’s current ordinances, which prohibit staying overnight in city parks and loitering overnight along the Colfax corridor. Aurora doesn’t have a general anti-camping ordinance that applies citywide, so the proposed ordinance would ban unauthorized camping on public and private property, strengthening the laws already on the books. Currently, police officers can only encourage people to move if they’re sleeping on private property, like parking lots of abandoned buildings, said Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates at the Public Safety Committee meeting. In order for any enforcement efforts to be made, the private property owner has to ask police officers to remove the person from the premises.
Some homeless people also sleep in cars, but it’s unclear whether Aurora’s draft ordinance would address that.
Local homeless advocates were mum on the issue this week.
At Aurora Warms the Night, which gives motel vouchers to the homeless on the coldest nights, executive director Mary Hupp said officials are looking at Aurora’s possible camping ban, but haven’t yet carved out a stance.
When Denver considered its ban last spring, Hupp said she worried whether that city’s ban could lead to an influx of homeless people going east across Yosemite Street to avoid Denver’s crackdown. City officials didn’t have an estimate for how many homeless people live in Aurora and tracking the largely transient population can be difficult. But Hupp said they helped 333 people last year. Of those, 245 were seeking the group’s services for the first time.
Public Safety Committee members said at their meeting on June 13 that a city-wide ban makes sense. Although they admit homeless camping is not a problem now, they want to address it before it becomes an issue.
“I think you can’t be too careful,” said Councilwoman Marsha Berzins, a member of the committee.
Councilman Bob Roth said he received comments from about 15 of his Ward V constituents saying they were concerned about homeless people from Denver coming to Aurora, and they thought city officials should pursue a camping ban similar to Denver’s ordinance.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said it’s too early to tell whether Denver’s new law has had any impact on Aurora, but some of the police officers that patrol the Colfax corridor of Aurora are concerned about the Denver law’s effects.
City Manager George “Skip” Noe said he doesn’t expect Denver’s homeless to come to Aurora because there’s nothing here for them.
“At this point we don’t have any of the things that would really be big draws for these populations like shelters and soup kitchens,” he said.
Denver’s ban, which prohibits anyone from unauthorized camping on public or private city land carries a potential $999 fine and a year in jail, and went into effect May 29. As of June 19, no arrests had been made by Denver police because people have been compliant with the law, said Mary Dulacki, records coordinator for the Denver Police Department.
Sam Mamet, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, said he’s not surprised that Aurora is considering a camping ban like Denver’s.
“The issue of what you can and can’t do on public property, including this, is an age-old issue that cities have dealt with forever,” he said.
The proposal raises some questions about how cities deal with the issue of homelessness in their boundaries, he said.
“The broader question is where are (the homeless) going to go, where are they going to live and what are their needs,” he said.
It will be hard to determine whether ordinances banning unauthorized camping are effective.
“Do you gauge it by how engaged the police have to get, or what arrests they have to make, or by the amount of people they have to place in some type of housing, or by some other indicator? It’s a complicated issue,” Mamet said.
The homeless man named Howco said city officials should think about alternatives to helping people like him get back on their feet, instead of banning them from sleeping on the streets.
He said he’s been homeless off and on for the past three years because of a mental illness that prevents him from keeping a job.
“The camping ban thing is a waste of time,” he said. “It’s only going to prove, if it passes, that City Council ain’t got no heart.”
Aurora Sentinel reporter Brandon
Johansson contributed to this report.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
Can anybody say class warfare?
Just what ‘class’ are drunks and drug addicts? Get a job!
What class are heartless blowhards who think they are better than everyone else? Nevermind, I found the answer – Republicans.
What in the hell do politics have to do with the ‘homeless’? Heartless? Are you kidding? America gives more to special lnterest groups than any country in the free world, much more. American also gives money and aid to over 400 countries, money we have to borrow and pay interest on.
I’m saying it’s about time that the ‘homeless’ (the only ones I see are drunks and drug addicts, there may be a small percentage of truly needy people, truly needy, those I don’t see in my travels up and down the streets of Denver) pull themselves up, get work, get going, stop drinking, stop taking drugs, take RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN LIFE.
You can put a ‘rosy face’ on the ‘homeless’, but for the most part the are drunks and drug addicts.
“Ed’ has been homeless for 2 months” He’s an exception, not the rule in Denver and will be in Aurora soon. If you really interview the hard-core ‘homeless’ you will find that they are drunks.
Why don’t any of these articles point out ‘finding a job’ as a cure? Are the ‘homeless’ above working for a living? The problem is that when you reward (shelters, food, clothing, etc.) the ‘homeless’ they will continue to come and will continue to be a drain on the economy of many larger cities nationwide. The reason it’s only the larger cities is because the all have in place the same rewards, while the small towns do not.
As it stands now we have laws in place that treat dogs and animals better than human beings. Aurora Council members sounds like they’ve been watching a little too much AMC’s,” The Walking Dead”….Maybe a little compassion instead of condemning is in order. Amazing how Government officials lack political correctness when speaking of the homeless of all races, genders and ages as if they are less than human. Some of these unfortunate souls are military vets. Some have come across hard times due to the economy. Some are mentally ill. They are someone’s son, daughter, relative, or even parent. Yet if someone comments on the facts of the large number of illegals taking advantage of our welfare system and some committing serious crimes in Aurora and Colorado your classified a racist. Aurora P.D. knows countless of homeless men, some being agressive pan handlers, that have been living around 6th Ave. and Peoria st. for years. Have any of you driven on Colfax the last 20 years or so??? No homeless in Aurora?? Who is the City of Aurora kidding?
Aurora P.D. doesn’t do anything because they could care less about the sections of Aurora that are poorer. If the homeless were to enter the more upscale part of south eastern Aurora or near gated communities, they would be arrested and jailed.. Councilpersons and local politicians convince you to fear those crushed by life by repeating the mantra…. “Homeless are going to invade!”…, as if they truly care about you and your families well being and acting as contemporary Paul Reveres. Don’t be fooled folks. Politicians only care about the neighborhoods THEY live in. As for Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates, the rest of the Aurora police dept. and the Arapahoe County District Attorneys Office, if and when there’s a buck to be made on charging, convicting, fining and jailing the homeless to justify their budget and jobs… they’ll be your Huckleberry ;~)