Housing, homeless officials show concern as Greeley’s camping ban goes into effect ...Saudi Arabia

As Greeley’s camping ban takes effect Wednesday, officials who work with the city’s homeless population are bracing for the impact this could have on their work.

Shawn Walcott, director of health promotion at the University of Northern Colorado and a board member of the Greeley-Weld Housing Authority, spoke out against the ban, stating it isn’t a viable solution.

“Camping bans don’t solve any problems,” Walcott said. “They’re seen as a tool for officers to address people who don’t want to move, and what’s going to happen is that those people are going to get a citation. They might go to jail for a night or two, and they’ll be back exactly where they were before with the additional complication of having a new criminal charge and fines that will increase barriers to housing and employment.”

On June 3, the Greeley City Council approved the city-wide camping ban in a 5-2 vote. The ban will make it a misdemeanor to camp in public spaces that are not approved by the city, with camping defined as the use of property for overnight occupancy or to dwell in a place by erecting a shelter.

It will also be a misdemeanor to store or abandon personal items — defined as items used for personal needs, comfort or preferences — in a public space. This ban was proposed as a means of addressing health and safety concerns, such as open fires that can quickly get out of control and human waste in the waterways that can introduce E. coli, according to city staff.

The ACLU has challenged a similar policy in Boulder, where officials passed a “blanket ban” forbidding the use of shelter, cover or protection apart from clothing, including the use of blankets. The Boulder County District Court upheld the policy in 2024, but the ACLU of Colorado on May 19 filed an opening brief to the Colorado Court of Appeals seeking to overturn that ruling.

The camping ban has been described numerous times over the past few months as a “tool in the toolbox” to help police deal with homeless people who refuse to move. This ban allows officers to back up a request to move with punitive legal repercussions for failure to comply.

According to the city’s municipal code, a misdemeanor charge can carry a fine of $500 to $1,000, imprisonment for up to one year or both.

City officials, however, have said enforcement of the new policy will focus on education, outreach and connecting people to resources before issuing citations or taking enforcement actions.

Mandy Shreve, the director of the city’s Homeless Solutions Department, and Walcott believe a better solution would have been to increase shelter capacity within the city. But Shreve emphasized there are other aspects to consider.

The emphasis shouldn’t only be on shelter, she said, but primarily on finding ways to get people out of homelessness as quickly as possible.

“I think the focus should be building out what we’re already doing,” Shreve said. “I think if we can find ways to build out the capacity, that’s what we need and that is the solution. I really do think the solution is helping people exit out of homelessness as quickly as possible.”

Shreve said the Homeless Solutions Department has successfully placed 10 households in housing over the past month and is currently working with 20 other people to achieve the same goal. According to Shreve, 70% of people experiencing homelessness only need access to emergency shelter as their cases typically resolve on their own within a couple of weeks.

“We have done a system analysis based on our homeless management system data, and we have a really good understanding of what we need collectively as a community from a resource perspective to make homelessness a very rare and brief thing,” Shreve said.

Walcott also believes the city should create additional designated camping areas — which the ban allows — besides Island Grove Regional Park. From Walcott’s perspective, providing more shelter and designated camping areas would be more cost-effective than the camping ban.

“There are options for designated camping spaces, which also take money and resources to monitor, but at least it doesn’t come with the additional cost to taxpayers in the form of policing, additional citations, and barriers for homeless people. I think the camping ban is seen as a low-cost solution, and it’s not in the long run,” Walcott said.

Shreve did not want to definitively comment on the ban’s impact on the department or the homeless community, as it just went into effect Wednesday. Regardless of how the landscape changes, Shreve said her department will continue their work.

Walcott holds a firm position against the ban, likening it to a bomb that is about to make things worse for the city’s homeless population.

Walcott believes the ban will only make homeless people more resistant to receiving services from the city since they might conflate city staff with the police department.

Shreve, however, believes the city’s outreach team has established a level of trust that won’t be compromised by the ban.

The city council members who approved the ban ultimately said tax-paying residents of the city should be able to enjoy public spaces, but they haven’t felt safe. Councilman Johnny Olson argued for compassion toward those residents who say they don’t feel safe at parks where homeless people are present.

“That statement comes from stigmatization and stereotypes towards people experiencing homelessness and, frankly, discrimination against the population,” Walcott said. “Many of them are employed and paying income tax, and they are all purchasing things within the community, so they have an equal right to the parks as other tax-paying citizens do.”

Shreve confirmed that many members of the homeless population, which totals 541 as of a December count, are employed, though neither she nor Walcott had an exact number.

Since the seasonal closure of the United Way of Weld County’s Cold Weather Shelter, many residents are noticing an increased homeless presence in public spaces. Councilman Tommy Butler and Councilwoman Deb DeBoutez, who voted against the camping ban, have been looking for additional funding to keep the shelter open all year.

Butler, DeBoutez and the rest of the city council will consider meeting this need with an increased sales tax for public safety that may make the ballot this November.

Regardless of the outcome of the ban, both officials said they will continue to do their part in helping and protecting this vulnerable section of the population.

The Greeley Housing Solutions Outreach Team is available to residents from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday to assist people facing challenges, including mental health crises, substance abuse issues and homelessness. The team is also available to answer questions and provide support from 12-2 p.m. Wednesdays at the LINC Library, 501 8th Ave.

Those who witness a homeless person who is being affected by drugs, in mental duress or seems to need help are advised to call North Range Behavioral Health at 970-347-2120.

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