Aurora City Council passed on second reading Monday night Mayor Mike Coffman’s urban camping ban.

Coffman voted aye to break council’s tie vote with an overall vote of 6-5 for the ban, which was amended to direct city staff to develop a policy on storing valuable items from an abated camp.

The ban would prohibit all urban camping on private and public property within Aurora. It also requires a 72-hour notice before an unauthorized camp is shut down and for the city to have shelter available for every person staying in the camp. If shelter space is not available, the city would not touch the camp, according to the ban.

Now that a substantial amendment was added, though, the ban will need to pass a third vote at the council’s next meeting on March 28. Should there be no additional amendments at final reading, the ordinance would go into effect 30 days later, around the end of April.

Councilmember Crystal Murillo brought the amendment she discussed on first reading to help save and store important personal property, which was supported by Coffman and a majority of council. Instead of outlining the process of storing personal items, Murillo said she thought it was best to defer to city staff who are working with the shelter providers to determine the best process. City staff will then come back to the City Council.

Murillo and Councilmember Juan Marcano said storing homeless residents’ valuable items is the least the city can do after making them leave their camps, and this resonated with fellow councilmembers.

“I don’t like the idea of someone facing their camp being abated and the government taking their property and destroying it,” Councilmember Curtis Gardner said while sharing his support of the amendment.

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky was for the amendment last meeting, but spoke adamantly against it at second reading due to health and safety concerns she has heard from providers who could potentially be storing items.

Councilmembers Alison Coombs, Ruben Medina, Marcano and Murillo voted no on the ban overall with the rest of council supporting it. In August, Coffman proposed the same ban, which failed in repeated 5-5 tie votes. Since the camping ban was last proposed, the City Council flipped from an even party split to a Republican majority, with six of the 10 members leaning right.

Denver has had a similar urban camping ban in place since 2012. Last year, an estimated 1,185 people were living on the streets of the city, according to the Denver Department of Housing Stability. Another 3,752 people were living in Denver’s homeless shelters, according to an annual count.

In the most recent count from 2020, there were 61 unsheltered homeless people living in Aurora in places like unauthorized camps. That year, there were 427 total homeless people in Aurora. In 2021, a count that did not include unsheltered populations said there were 594 homeless people living in shelters in Aurora.