Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
With so much misinformation, disinformation, hyperbole and politispeech clouding the local and regional crisis of homelessness, the priority now for every level of government needs to be transparency.
Aurora lawmakers, split along party and philosophical lines, this week barely passed what’s billed as a “ban on homeless camping” after barely defeating the measure last year.
Both the issue and the Aurora legislation have become a quagmire of speculation and obscurity.
Whether liberals and Democrats on the city council can agree with Republicans and conservatives, there are some indisputable facts surrounding Aurora’s legislation and the crisis itself.
1. Homelessness is a condition, not an ethnic group, generation, political philosophy or faction. There are as many causes for homelessness as there are kinds of people who have no home.
2. While controversy over the homeless-camping ban is about the most visible aspect of the crisis, people living in public places is only a part of the problem. There are thousands of people discreetly living in cars, places that you can’t see, or at the mercy of friends and family who are at serious risk of ending up “on the streets.”
3. People battling drug addiction and homelessness do not choose their drug or alcohol habit over a place to live. Drug addiction is not a choice but an insidious physical and mental disability that drives self-destructive behavior. Ignoring those facts dismisses the opportunity to treat this disease and end one of its most cruel and dangerous outcomes: homelessness.
4. Being homeless is not a crime. While proponents of Aurora’s new ban on homeless camping say the measure will not “criminalize” homelessness, violating the measure by not leaving after 72 hours notice can result in arrest by police and a $2,650 fine. Arrest, jail and court-ordered fines are criminal penalties. Proponents are being obtuse or dishonest in insisting this proposal does not criminalize unsanctioned campers, just as existing law can.
5. There is virtually nothing in this proposal new or substantially different than what already exists in city code. While packaging legislation as an inspiration of enforcement isn’t a bad idea, with no real new ideas or strategies, this effort is doomed to fail just like the similar measures across the metro area, the state and even the nation.
6. For those who don’t care that these failed ideas do nothing to prevent or solve the crisis of homelessness and like that it would at least move campers away from their business or from near their school or home, relief will be short-lived. At best, camping bans only shuffle people already leading tenuous lives onto their next forbidden camping site, to become someone else’s “eyesore.”
7. Aurora absolutely should prohibit un-sanctioned public camping, but it must enforce this only as part of a regional, cooperative effort and only when there provably is the capacity for the region to provide humane, safe shelter facilities for those without homes, offering treatment and accommodation for addictions and mental illness. Not only is this the right thing to do, it prevents homelessness from becoming a community problem in addition to being a personal crisis.
8. This is a statewide problem and demands the attention of state lawmakers, state agencies and will take substantial state resources to address.
With this measure moving toward assent, the bill hinges on identifying quantities of shelter spaces and numbers of people without homes currently not available to the public and most likely not even accurately tracked. The measure should be amended to ensure:
• Aurora will make public how many shelter spaces are available each day, and what kind of shelter is offered.
• The city must report how many camping citations are issued each day, to whom, where, and the date of compliance or arrest and citation.
• The city must report each day how many people are cited for banned camping/trespassing, how many are jailed and for what reasons.
• The city must report to the public whether cited campers move to local shelters and when they leave.
The chief and most realistic criticism of this measure is that it only further disrupts the anguished lives of vulnerable people without homes and just moves their foibles and tents to a new location, only to be continually hustled by police to another banned campsite, endlessly homeless.
The public needs to understand what’s really happening in this crisis. That means the public’s servants need to report enough information to inform and protect the community, and especially those in the community who are the targets of this bill.
may I say HELL YES! WHAT THE BOARD SAID! The only way to hold these council people accountable is to HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. so We need reports and PEOPLE need to read them. Because right now there is a lot of anger and hostility as well as apathy. Question? How can we get the information out in a steady fashion??? Maybe it’s time for some city bill boards in strategic places that can be changed daily with relevant information on them????
Arrest them all now!
And then what? Keep them in jail forever? And where is all this jail space? And who pays for housing them then? You’ve really thought this trough, haven’t you?
Thaw that itty bitty heart that you have. These are human beings that have fallen on hard times. They need help, not a jail cell. Being homeless is not a crime.
“There is virtually nothing in this proposal new or substantially different than what already exists in city code. While packaging legislation as an inspiration of enforcement isn’t a bad idea”
This is exactly right – we agree. The city has been unwilling to enforce their ordinance. This is a code enforcement issue, no doubt, however anyone that has dealt with Aurora and actually taken the time to call and talked with them, when you call, they tell you this is the homeless departments issue. Talk about a circle jerk – these city departments pass the buck accountability; these guys are masters. They are part of problem. That’s why this has gotten into the massive problem it is, no one there is willing to admit it. Well now we are creating a paralleling ordinance, and if that is what the city needs to understand what their original job is…well good.
Correct. The police have been loathe to deal with homeless people because, primarily, they don’t know what to do with them. But the question is “What DO we do with them?” Putting them in jail or fining them is not the solution. Once the “ban” is enacted, the problem will remain unsolved, but the partisans will feel much better.
“It’s been made abundantly clear that we only need to offer shelter, not actually have the number of shelter beds. It is suspect at best. We don’t even have enough shelter beds,” Councilwoman Crystal Murillo said. Recent Council meeting
The city owns numerous vacant buildings, several in Ward 1. This process is a trade off on usage of public property. The new code requires available housing before any action. Here is CM Murrillo’s opportunity to tell us what public property she is willing to start using. Do we set aside-The Peoples House, The Morning Star building? These are mostly unused, within the city inventory and have the ability for best public property use. In this case, its most and best use property triage. Some won’t like this, but it’s an alternative to these folks like CM Marcano, and CM Murillo that refuse under any circumstances to accept the concept of needed homeless management.
How much out of control is it to the breaking point? Denver has demonstrated with its old mayor – then governor now senator, and his well-known famous “10-year Road- Home program” to be a disaster. That city doesn’t know what the solution is, they can’t handle it, but their city council continues on blindly as we watch what they do.
You’ve been on here supporting the ban, against all intelligent and informed comments, and deriding the unhoused in Aurora in terrible language, and now you don’t want it?? At least you saw the light.
#3 is not an “indisputable fact.” It is very disputable. No outside person is physically, emotionally, mentally, or financially forcing a person to take drugs… it is therefore, a lifestyle choice.
If #5 is true, then why would the D’s on council vote against it??? If it is simply “what already exists in city code,” wouldn’t the D’s then be voting against city code to vote against this ban?
#7 is disputable as well. “Funding” homelessness is an endless pit that has no end and only compounds the problem. San Francisco has an annual budget of $580 Million (!) dollars to pay for exactly what you propose… and the problem is not getting any better – only worse. You can’t throw money at the people or the problem and expect it to get fixed.
The real issue at hand is how to help those that are homeless. Fining and/or arresting them is not the solution to the issues that they face. Getting them the help that they need to deal with the issues that got them where they are is what needs to be the focus.
A good summary of facts around Aurora City Council’s shameful effort to criminalize homelessness while doing absolutely nothing to actually help people experiencing homelessness in Aurora – nor show any real concern for them. This is just a publicity stunt to rile up their base and blame the most vulnerable among us for all the ills in Aurora, none of which they have anything to do with. Spearheaded by Mike Coffman, who has wasted over a year on this issue and spread hate and division in the Council, never called any experts and knows nothing about the homeless issues and has not bothered to learn a thing to try to help the unhoused in Aurora.
This is the issue that calls for all Christians to demonstrate the creed they claim to believe in. Deeds, not words, are called for.
I see alot of arguments both for and against. I’ve made my opinion known about the inhumanity of labelling any Human being as “solid waste” and trying to sweep them and their belongings into the trash already. So today, I’m just going to present some data I’ve gathered from primary sources, currently and actively involved in the process.
1- As it stands, the Abatement teams do nothing to protect any sensitive documents or belongings. I have a report given by someone who was told to abate last week, who was actually there. “They are not checking backpacks or elsewhere for any sensitive identifying documents, simply throwing everything nearby that looks like it belongs to the homeless on a flatbed to throw away at the dump.”
2- IF they happen to come across an ID, Social Security Card, etc. These documents are left sitting on the streetside after the abatement is finished. In the “hope the owner will come back to claim them”. But how many other people will walk by this same location, and possibly take what is not theirs? Every time they tell you at hearing that we presently separate safely important documents, you are being lied to.
3- The “required shelter” they are offering to people is nothing but a mattress on a floor. Offered for no more than a day or two, and not even a legit room or bed at the shelter itself. Many refuse to trade their possessions for being treated as an imposition by the very shelter they are supposed to “move to”, and thus refuse to go at all. There are no other nor better shelter options being offered than what is available to all at the ADRC when it is activated, just a mattress on a floor until the next morning. This is not aid, it is an excuse for the Council to feel more humane about what they are doing.
4-Their argument about storage options is also fallacy. They argue about the locker space at ADRC. But those who have actually been there realize, that is not nearly enough space to hold even sensitive documents. Also, taking away those lockers from the public will leave even more homeless people’s things out in the street, adding to the “eyesore” the public is upset about. Every time ADRC is mentioned as an option, even the lawmakers know they are spouting nonsense to justify their actions.
I have listened to this argument personally at 2 different hearings now. I have spoken out both times, and will do so again at the next hearing. None of what is being presented as options to the public are actual solutions. Just excuses to pass a bill that is neither humane nor enforceable with the current resources allocated to it.
These arguments are stage shows. They know this is not just a bad ordinance, not just far from any sort of solution to Aurora’s homeless population. It is a direct lie being repeated to the people simply to garner their support. Dont be a tool, don’t eat the bullsh*t they are feeding you. Any amount of research exposes the fact that Aurora’s Aid Network is broken. Any amount of actually speaking to the agencies involved will expose the Truth of not just what they lie to you about in the hearings, but what is actually being done in the community. Think for yourself, and do not let the pretty “untruth” convince you as a citizen to support criminality in your politicians.