[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Study Session

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Shoemaker, Andrew

Colleagues,

Unfortunately I will not be at the study session Tuesday, as I have to travel for work.  Accordingly, I am going to provide a few thoughts for tomorrow night's study session regarding homelessness.
Homeless and transient camping in our community, and in particular in our downtown area, is negatively affecting our public spaces, our health and safety, the quality of life for many of our citizens, and public views about homelessness and funds being spent on services for the homeless.  My views on the camping issue are set forth in the op-ed that was published in the Camera on Sunday --  http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_30298459/andrew-shoemaker-lets-fix-camping-problem-civic-area?source=most_viewed   The basic premise of my op-ed is that we provide the following option: (1) sleep in a designated place, away from our civic area and neighborhoods, where there will be rules and a level of safety; or (2) face enforcement consequences for camping illegally, where the City is committed to proactive and effective enforcement. Initial feedback I have received on the op-ed has been cautiously positive, with the most common concern raised being whether a sleeping option would attract additional transients to Boulder.   However, without such a sleeping option, we are left with the choice of allowing camping in our public spaces or resorting to jail for those without a place to stay.  The former approach is unacceptable to most, and the latter has political and legal issues.
If there is consensus at Council on the premise of providing a designated place to sleep (with appropriate rules) outside of the public areas so that the City could strictly enforce the camping ban everywhere other than the designated sleeping area, it would be a significant step forward on addressing the camping problem and in particular on putting a temporary solution in place before next summer.  Our experience with a temporary solution could help guide our longer-term approach.  With respect to the short term, there are many questions about location, form of shelter (tent, structure, or existing facility), rules applied, and services provided at the location.  We could ask Staff to come back with an idea for a temporary shelter option for next summer with proposals for (a) location, (b) form of shelter, (c) what entity will administer/manage the location, and (d) how the rules (rules that create a safe and humane environment and that are not so permissive so as to incentivize people to travel to Boulder to use the facility as a hostel) are developed and implemented.  Criteria for such proposals should include that it be politically expedient to accomplish by next summer, that it have adequate capacity to shelter those persons who choose the option (otherwise, we are back where we started, with no alternative place to sleep), and that the site be accessible to public transit. I am sure there are other considerations that would need to be addressed as well.  I must add that I think that our local service organizations are doing an excellent job with transitional and permanent housing approaches, which is something different than what we are talking about here.  In my view, we should not take funding from those important services in order to fund the summer shelter concept, which is more of a public safety and civic area issue.  Finally, we should also ask for a report on the status of the County's efforts to revise and potentially expand its jail facility. Thanks for your work on this, and I am sorry that I will not be there for what will be an interesting discussion.
[http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site21/2016/0827/20160827__28dcin1~1.jpg]<http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_30298459/andrew-shoemaker-lets-fix-camping-problem-civic-area?source=most_viewed>

Andrew Shoemaker: Let's fix the camping problem in the civic area<http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_30298459/andrew-shoemaker-lets-fix-camping-problem-civic-area?source=most_viewed>
www.dailycamera.com
This summer, notwithstanding a camping ban on the books, the creek path and civic area have transformed into a free-for-all camping zone, resulting in a health and safety hazard unwelcoming to others.


Andrew