Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
AURORA | The city is opening more Pallet shelter spaces for homeless people seeking refuge, as camping evictions get underway and outreach workers report shuffled campers aren’t leaving Aurora.
Aurora lawmakers last week approved agreements with Salvation Army and Restoration Christian Ministries to set up and manage 30 more Pallet shelters.
At least 60 of the small, prefabricated housing units have already been constructed at Salvation Army-run shelter sites located at Restoration Christian Fellowship on East Sixth Avenue and at the Salvation Army warehouse on Peoria Street.
The popular Pallet shelters offer privacy and some space to store belongings for Aurorans experiencing homelessness, as well as a shelter option suitable for people who won’t or can’t bed down in a congregate shelter. The cost of running a Pallet shelter includes electricity and heating.
In late April, the Salvation Army’s social services director for the Denver metro area, Kristen Baluyot, told The Sentinel that existing Pallet shelter facilities were at capacity, with 86 people on the waitlist.
“Our primary goal with those safe outdoor spaces is for them to be there for as short a time as possible and then get them into permanent, stable housing,” Baluyot said in April. “In Aurora, there’s really only a few sheltering options. … If you’re looking at the numbers in the context of this camping ban, there’s not sufficient shelter space for all of the people who are camping to move into shelter.”
The Salvation Army has a seven-day limit on staying in the Pallet shelters unless the occupant is “actively working” with case management, officials said.
The agreements inked Monday came as the city rolls out its new ban on unauthorized camping, which city spokesman Ryan Luby said has been enforced since May 19, when internal policies were rewritten to reflect the language of the ban.
Codified in the ban is a requirement that, before city representatives can sweep a campsite, there must be enough shelter space available at the time of the sweep to accommodate all occupants. Based on official estimates, there may be hundreds more homeless people than there are shelter beds in Aurora.
Supporters of the city’s camping ban have argued that sweeping camps will force campers into city-sanctioned shelter spaces, within reach of service providers.
But city homelessness liaison Brandt Van Sickle confirmed in an email Thursday that only three ousted campers had taken the city up on its offer of congregate shelter at the Comitis Crisis Center. Currently that’s the city’s only dedicated shelter space for evicted campers, despite the camping ban being in place for close to two months.
According to Luby, 21 abatements were completed in June, along with 21 in May. The ban and the city’s assumption of responsibility for abatement on Colorado Department of Transportation land have increased the volume of sweeps undertaken by the city, with 65 abatements taking place in the first half of 2022 compared to 16 over the same period in 2021.
At press time, it was unclear how many people were evicted during the sweeps. Homeless outreach workers said the city currently does not track individuals during the sweeps.
Bob Dorshimer — CEO of Mile High Behavioral Health, which oversees Comitis — said outreach teams were reporting that city employees deployed to sweep the camps have been “professional and sensitive” according to feedback from those pushed out of their campsites.
He confirmed that only three people out of the dozens swept from encampments have accepted offers for shelters and that he’s confident swept campers are just moving on to new campsites in the area.
“These campers are not moving on to Denver by any means,” he said, adding that outreach workers in the region have been able to reconnect with ousted campers at new locations. “They’re finding alternative places in Aurora to camp.”
Dorshimer said Comitis and the Aurora Day Resource Center have both seen a steady stream of campers come for services for well more than a year, “but these are not people living in the camps in the region. There’s a difference.”
He also said his organization has seen a recent spike in the need for day resource center services, especially food distribution.
“The situation has been made even more complicated because of a recent surge in COVID cases in all of our facilities,” Dorshimer said.
He said he’s had difficulty not only finding ways to get help with testing and vaccinations, but people seeking out shelter and crisis services are resistant to wearing masks and maintaining social distancing at this time.
Backing off homeless camping sweeps became part of local and federal guidelines in order to prevent COVID-19 from infecting the homeless.
Aurora will spend $1.15 million in total under the new agreements — $300,000 to build 20 shelters at the Restoration Christian site, $250,000 to build 10 shelters at the Salvation Army site and $600,000 for operating costs through the end of the year, including hiring three more shelter staffers and another case manager.
Aurora’s City Council voted unanimously to approve the pacts with little discussion. Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky at one point asked why the city couldn’t place multiple people into the 8-foot-by-8-foot shelters, after homeless program liaison Emma Knight said the city avoids housing in a single Pallet shelter people who weren’t previously camping together.
“Is there, like, a homeless gang war going on? How would that cause an issue?,” Jurinsky asked. “I’m a firm believer in beggars can’t be choosers, and, I mean, we’re helping people get off the street.”
City homeless experts said it’s not a workable plan.
“Just putting folks together in a very tight space who don’t know each other typically doesn’t go well. The pallet shelters are quite small,” Knight said.
“If someone has a certain type of behavioral or mental health issue, it may not be appropriate to put them together just from a safety perspective,” said Jessica Prosser, director of housing and community services for the city.
Before Monday’s vote, council members indicated their support for setting up more of the small shelters in May, when they said they preferred that option over expanding sheltering at the Aurora Day Resource Center.
Jurinsky states “. . . beggars can’t be choosers” when
asking to place multiple people into an 8 by 8 shelter.
Seems as if Jurinsky comes up short when it comes
to compassion.
Neither Jurinsky nor Zvonek have this word in their book of talking points.
Homeless do nothing but harm the citizens of Aurora both mentally and financially, then many of you complain that we have to adopt, house and feed them. I say that’s a bunch of junk and for one, I’m pleased that my at large council representatives do not wish to take care of these squatters. I’m compassionate only for those that deserve compassion, and I say move the homeless as many times as necessary until they realize Aurora is not a place to be homeless.
Danielle’s incompetence shows everytime she speaks. However, I question these costs.
“Aurora will spend $1.15 million in total under the new agreements — $300,000 to build 20 shelters at the Restoration Christian site, $250,000 to build 10 shelters at the Salvation Army site and $600,000 for operating costs through the end of the year, including hiring three more shelter staffers and another case manager.” I’d like to see the breakdown.
And we all pay for it. But it’s mandated by their law.
Once the word is spread far and wide that Aurora provides free shelter by law, imagine all the unhoused folks that are going to flock here. As they do, they will create the need for more-and-more housing/sheltering, for which we will have to pay. The figures mentioned are based upon the needs and the numbers as of today. They will increase proportionately as time goes by.
Soon enough our Council will figure out that this was the problem with the recently passed Homeless Ban and will abandon the housing part of the ban. Until that time the APD will have to increase the pressure on the campers and squatters by moving them every day, and week. Word of mouth of police harassment will be the only way to keep them away until the Ban is upheld but the housing part, that the socialists on Council wanted, is eliminated.
Dick Moore, ladies and gentlemen, always out here saying the quiet part out loud. Just openly publicly admitting to wanting to use the police as his personal hit squad on people he doesn’t like. Really saying what the other jerks won’t say: that a camping ban is about punishing homeless people and kicking them around. Dick, and you continue to live up to your name every day.
All as predicted. This “ban” is going to cost us taxpayers a lot. “Ban” means something goes away. Our homeless population is not going away. It’s just being moved from one place to another, even if that is city-provided shelter. But I guess we shouldn’t complain too loudly if the City is providing shelter or temporary housing of some type for these folks. Now the people who support this law would, under other circumstances, refer to this as “socialism,” wouldn’t they? Ironic that they create situations that they themselves decry.
They gotta create the situations because otherwise no one would hire them to fix the situations. They’re making their own money and power by scamming the city. Make problem, tell people you are only solution to problem, get them to give you their money and votes, now you are in charge and can make more problems. It’s a great con.
Mike Coffman is the less charming, unlovable, sociopath Music Man – and we’ve got Trouble With a Capital T right here in Aurora. He’s selling us trombones to “fix” our homeless, who he keeps on the streets and kicks around for a show when he needs to drum up votes.
Sandy, I suppose you put a lot of thought to your comment but I don’t seem to get your drift other than you have seen the play the Music Man.
If you make a comment in the future try to make it so educated people see what you are trying to say.
Which part isn’t making sense to you? I’m happy to clarify.
Correct Joe Felice. When you house and feed people for free at the expense of people who have funds that is exactly the definition of socialism. It is ironic that our City Council Conservatives didn’t see this. But if you recall, this part of the Homeless Ban was added only to please the socialists on City Council.
It is now our duty as citizens of Aurora to vote out the socialists on City Council. (Coombs, Marcano, the child legislator Murillo and the quiet one, Medina). Then the remaining Council members will see this problem and just ban all homeless in Aurora without doing anything but moving them out of Aurora to anywhere else.