Aurora could begin sweeping homeless camps without warning, alternative shelter

Aurora may stop giving three days’ notice before disbanding homeless encampments across the city under a proposed new policy that would also eliminate the requirement for shelter to be provided for those displaced by sweeps.

Aurora City Council member Angela Lawson, who is co-sponsoring the proposal along with Mayor Pro Tem Steve Sundberg, said the change is needed to deal with camps near busy roadways and where drug use and violence have taken place.

“If we can offer shelter, that’s great. But right now, there are things going on in these encampments that are not only harming the unhoused but the people that are in the area,” she said during a Jan. 13 study session.

Aurora last year eliminated the 72-hour notice rule in select areas. The council is scheduled to cast an initial vote on nixing the rule for all camps Monday.

Lawson and Sundberg’s proposal is the council’s latest escalation in its efforts to disband encampments after members instituted a formal camping ban in 2022.

Since then, Aurora has regularly abated encampments, sweeping 70 in January, according to city spokesman Ryan Luby.

Between 130 and 150 shelter beds are open in Aurora on any given night, not including beds currently reserved for individuals in camps targeted for sweeps, the city says.

Setting the stage for the proposed acceleration of encampment sweeps was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson last year, which upheld cities’ ability to punish people for sleeping outdoors, even if no alternative shelter is available.

Aurora has begun rolling out programs like a specialty court for homeless defendants accused of nonviolent misdemeanors, which sponsors have said will connect defendants with housing and treatment resources, and is standing up a centralized “navigation campus” in tandem with enforcement of the ban.

However, Aurora’s strategy for connecting its homeless residents with shelter — which the council’s conservative majority has described as a “work-first” model in contrast to Denver’s “housing-first” approach — continues to set it apart from its neighbor.

Cathy Alderman, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, noted that the Grants Pass ruling was cited in the dismissal of an ACLU lawsuit challenging Boulder’s camping ban, and Douglas County toughened its ban shortly after the Supreme Court decision.

“There was a balance that had been struck where cities could enforce their camping bans if they had alternatives. You couldn’t just tell people they’re criminals if they don’t have a home,” she said. “It’s taken the responsibility off of local governments to address homelessness. … I think that’s really troubling.”

City Attorney Pete Schulte told council members Jan. 13 that people who refuse to move from an encampment site would be subject to arrest for trespassing, which under city code may be punished by a jail sentence of up to 364 days.