AURORA | Aurora lawmakers gave final approval Monday to changes to the city’s homeless camping laws, aligning it with a recent Supreme Court decision allowing cities to evict homeless campers on public property without notice or providing shelter.
Aurora’s current homeless laws require the city to provide at least 72 hours’ notice before clearing encampments, and expulsions can only be carried out if there is emergency shelter space available.
The new law will allow immediate evictions of encampments, and the city will no longer be required to provide beds for homeless people when evicting them.
The city’s legal advisors said the 2024 Johnson v Grants Pass Supreme Court ruling permits the changes in Aurora and across the country.
The final reading of the ordinance passed with Councilmembers Crystal Murillo, Alison Coombs and Ruben Medina opposed.
“We are able to do emergency abatements, and we do those from time to time when there is a very emergent need to abate the camp,” Jessica Prosser, director of Housing and Community Services, said. “It’s not going to change our practices in that we have shelter beds available, and we’re still offering them.”
City staff and Councilmembers Steve Sundberg said they would only resort to immediate evictions in cases of emergency situations.
Councilmember Murillo balked at the need to make the changes when current city laws already allow some forms of emergency eviction of encampments, and the city already plans to continue offering available beds to homeless people.
“It sounds like we already have the ability in emergency situations, to do what we were just described,” Murillo said. “It’s rhetorical and literal in that if we can do what we need to do, and we’re not even worried about there being space, why would we roll that back?”
In response, Prosser and City Attorney Pete Schulte said that the changes were intended to align the ordinance with legal precedents of the Supreme Court Ruling and allow for quicker action in emergency situations.
Officials did not explain what benefit the city gained by alignment with the Grants Pass ruling since they said Aurora did not predict changes in eviction policy.
The change follows a comprehensive reworking of the city’s homeless program, which boasts a $67 million Navigation Center, expected to open in late 2025.
Aurora is moving toward what Mayor Mike Coffman refers to as a “work-first” approach to offering services. While the city will offer long-term housing options to homeless people, they must enter work, job-training and addiction recovery programs to qualify. Details of what constitutes compliance for services have not yet been decided, according to city officials.
Some council critics insist that “housing first” programs are more effective at reducing homelessness, pointing to recent government studies indicating that.
The proposal sparked debate about homelessness, public safety and the humane treatment of vulnerable populations.
Councilmember Coombs said she was critical about removing requirements for providing shelter and offering 72-hour notice before expelling campers on public property.
“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, folks can say that this is not punitive, but the consequences certainly will be,” Coombs said. “When we create this discretion, it means that a person could be immediately moved with no notice and no offer of shelter and could be put in jail for up to 364 days. That is punitive.”
Coombs said that, theoretically, if the city gets better at evicting encampments and offers enough wanted beds, then eventually, there will be no beds, and people will end up in jail. Coombs said that overall, creating this discretion can lead to discrimination and harm.
“I am concerned about the potential consequences, regardless of the intent,” Coombs said.
Prosser said the city has never encountered a situation where it does not have beds to offer and would resort to jail. City Attorney Pete Schulte said that refusal to move or take shelter is when the city would resort to jailing people.
Schulte said that the Supreme Court’s decision makes that legal, but the city employees trying to help those people are “bending over backward” to find options before they resort to jail.
“It’s a last resort,” Schulte said.
He also said that if people are arrested in that situation, they will rarely, if ever, receive the full-jail time.
Homelessness activists say it’s unclear how many homeless people are incarcerated in the metro area.
Cathay Alderman, chief communications officer for the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless, said that they don’t track homeless people who are incarcerated.
“There was a time when Denver University was tracking that data (see report here), but I don’t know that they have done anything since 2018-2019,” Alderman said in an email.
Homelessness activists and homeless people themselves say they do not like to go to aggregate shelters because of safety and sanitation issues, along with many other reasons.
“We do see some people accept services, especially when we have high-quality shelter options,” Prosser said. “People love going to the pallet shelter.”
Although Aurora’s pallet shelters recently closed, the city has been working on temporary services and housing until the Regional Navigation Center opens in late 2025. The Aurora Day Center is currently operating but does not offer overnight services.
The city began temporarily using the Regional Navigation Campus — the city’s one-stop shop for homelessness — for overnight shelter options until spring. The center itself, however, is still under construction, but the city has been offering bus transit in and out of the campus during periods of extreme cold weather.
During the Jan. 20 meeting, Councilmember Murillo also questioned whether lending more police “capacity” for homelessness while there are other, more serious crimes to focus on.
“We are constantly hearing that we have a shortage of police officers in the department,” Murillo said.
The Aurora Police Department will add two more homeless outreach officers this spring, Chamberlain said during the Jan. 20 meeting.
The Aurora Police Department is adding homeless outreach officers to their Police Area Representative units (PAR). Sydney Edwards, Public Information Officer, said they expect to have them start in April.
“We currently have two officers that work specifically as Homeless Outreach Officers, so by April, we will have four, Edwards said in an email. “Our PAR units also respond to homeless situations and we have roughly six officers per district assigned to PAR.”
Prosser and Sundberg said that not requiring 72-hour notice for expelling campers would provide the city with flexibility in addressing encampments, particularly in high-complaint areas.
The measure has garnered split support at two council meetings, though the ordinance ultimately passed.
I can’t see that anything has changed over the last 4 years. Lots of if’s and’s and but’s…..nothing really has changed. But I’m not surprised…
Geez, just because SCOTUS makes an Ebeneezer Scrooge ruling doesn’t mean our illustrious city council has to rush to embrace a harsh immediate clearing of encampments with no shelter options. We oughta be ashamed. Also, the work-first approach is not what experts agree is the correct one. We’re ignoring precluding issues. They’re homeless PEOPLE!
It seems as if most of our city council members are heartless and prefer to ignore the situation instead of trying to find viable solutions. I wonder how they would feel if they were unhoused or had to leave their warm, safe homes without any notice or without any reason? Who elected these unfeeling, cruel and unaware creatures?
Susan G
I agree
We became homeless a year ago due to COVID refusal! We have no abuse problems. Fact is – SS of 1,300 per month (retired doctor) does not allow for rent and food. People have NO idea what it means to ‘live’ on the streets. It’s not living. It is dying slowly
If you insist on living the lifestyle of a homeless bum, so be it. There is no law against it. But plan on living a daily nomadic lifestyle. Don’t think you can park your butt on any public property, claim it as your own, as long as you like and despoil it with your human waste, needles and other trash and then move on when you please, leaving property owners to clean up after you. Or, consider moving to Denver. They will set you up in an apartment, at taxpayers expense, no questions asked, no commitments expected.
Amen Kirk.
We became homeless a year ago due to COVID refusal! We have no abuse problems. Fact is – SS of 1,300 per month (retired doctor) does not allow for rent and food. People have NO idea what it means to ‘live’ on the streets. It’s not living. It is dying slowly
The restaurant I work at, in another town has 1 regular homeless person. He comes in ans buys a water bottle almost everyday, and I allow him to charge his phone. He would love to have a paying job, but all his belongings, including his Social security card and birth certificate have been destroyed. He can’t request replacements, because he has no bank account to send money from, and no address to have them mailed to him. He can’t get a job, because he can’t renew his ID.
How is destroying everything this man has going to help him in any way? His birthday was Feb 4th, and my employees gave him clothes, because his camp was once again destroyed, and he only hand the clothes on his back left. His camp stove, change of clothes, food, all gone once again.
“Emergecy situations” meaning near upper class neighborhoods. Addressing the problems that cause homelessness. Is the right thing to do.
It’s funny how quickly aurora jumped on the we can boot the homeless, but still offer bed (good) but wanted to combat feds over Illegals. Your priorities are still stupid
Ah yes, the ‘ol ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach. Why not actually tackle the homeless crisis? Inhumanity at it’s finest.
Some of you here think that I wanted to be homeless my husband died you son of a bitches!! 28 years and I 0 I found myself alone scared with two kids that were almost grown but not quite and no way to really take care of myself because I was a home mom you know I stayed at home a lot so my husband took care of me when he died I had no no family no place to go no money and and I wound up homeless and you know what I was treated like s*** by everybody can’t go in charge you can’t go to the bathroom you can’t you’re treated like a low class citizen from that moment forward and you know what it could happen to any of you so you better stop think and redirect your thought because I’m telling you what I hope it comes your way tenfold you have just I’m appalled appalled at your behaviors most of them some of you have a heart yes but some of you need to be kicked in the ass