By: CHELA LUJAN & JUAN ESPINOSA
With backhoes, skids, dump trucks and other heavy equipment, the City of Pueblo moved in Sept. 3 to enforce the camping ban ordinance, passed in February. Dozens of equipment operators, firemen, police officers and other workers swept the camps on the West bank of Fountain Creek and between East Fourth and East Eighth streets early Tuesday.
In one area under the Eighth Street bridge, a handful of people were seen being escorted out of the cottonwood forest, one woman was in a wheelchair-like walker. The group had enough personal possessions packed on wagons and carts to fill a van. Behind them was a large cloud of dust made by the machines scraping their camps and the vegetation around into large heaps to be hauled away.
One of the young men in the group said he had lived in the river bottom for the past five years. It appeared that most of the people who made the area their home had already moved out.
The camping ban has been supported by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Grant Pass, Oregon vs. Gloria Johnson case. The court stated that the Eighth Amendment which protects citizens from excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishments did not prohibit cities from punishing unhoused people for sleeping in public, even if they have nowhere else to go and even if sleep is a basic human necessity.
Pueblo’s camping ban makes it illegal to camp on public property within city limits. Refusal to accept or move to other available shelter would result in fines of up to $1,000.
Councilwoman Regina Maestri claimed this ban had nothing to do with those facing homelessness but rather aimed to protect Pueblo’s environment.
“It’s not a sweep; it is municipal code enforcement,” Mayor Heather Graham stated at Monday’s City Council meeting. “People should not be camping for their safety and the community’s safety.”
There are a few options for shelter in Pueblo, one being the Rescue Mission, which holds 25-50 beds. An ordinance allows the mayor to enact a shelter emergency in extreme conditions, relying on other organizations and churches to open their doors if beds fill up.
It’s estimated that 200-250 people live in the area the city will be cleaning up, which also lies along Railroad property where the city needs permission to access. A question rose about whether those camping in the area are on public or private property. “When we talk about the unhoused community that lives down there, I keep bringing it up: We do have a shelter in the city of Pueblo. At this time, it’s a choice for people not to go to the Rescue Mission and not to be housed,” Graham remarked.
Despite these measures, many in the unhoused population face barriers such as safety concerns, strict shelter rules, and the stigma associated with seeking help. It is not easy to change overnight; some have been without an accepted home for so long that it’s all they know, and they do not know where they will go come morning, the next day, or next week.
According to the 2023 Homeless Point-in-Time Study from the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Pueblo, along with Mesa and Bent counties, has the highest rate of people experiencing homelessness. Sixteen percent of Pueblo’s population is homeless, with the largest age range being 25-64. Compared to the general population in the Colorado Balance of State region, Hispanic/Latino individuals (28%), American Indian/Alaskan Natives (10%), and Black/African Americans (4%) are more likely to be homeless than those who identify as white. Sixty-five percent suffer from one or more disabling conditions such as substance use, serious mental illness, and PTSD (10% of those without homes in Pueblo are veterans), and 1 in every 10 people counted is fleeing domestic violence.
“There is a relation to crime and the homeless. When I did a ride-along with the police department from midnight to 5 a.m.—there were 40-50 people just roaming the streets in the middle of the night. . .Unfortunately, these are the measures we have to take,” Maestri remarked during her turn to comment from the dais.
Based on the study “Crime Increase in Colorado: Multiple Explanations” by Lisa Pasko, Associate Professor and Chair at University of Denver, crime does have a correlation, but not with the homeless population themselves; rather, it is with housing insecurity, which showed an increase of 25% in 2020, and jobs, which also saw a spike of 12% in unemployment, along with education and mental health. Twenty-two percent of Coloradans suffer from mental illness, ranking fifth in the country for the highest suicide rate. Colorado also faces the worst access to mental health care. Some constitutes lean toward a narrative that more arrests and a heavier police budget will deflate crime, both, according to Pasko, have been proven to be false.
Critics argue that criminalizing survival behaviors — such as seeking food and shelter — only exacerbates the issues. They argue that policies should focus on providing resources rather than punishment and that it is desperation that drives crime. Individuals turn to illegal activities out of necessity rather than choice.
Community leaders and advocates continue to call for a more compassionate approach to the issues Pueblo faces, urging local officials to prioritize access to more resources and listen to the voices of those directly affected by these policies.
