Aurora City Council passed on final reading the urban camping ban sponsored by Mayor Mike Coffman in a 6-5 vote, with Coffman breaking council’s tie vote. This means the ban will take effect by the end of April.

The ban will 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 those staying at the camp at the time it is being abated. If shelter space is not available, the city would not touch the camp, according to the ban.

An amendment proposed by Councilmember Crystal Murillo that directed city staff to develop a policy on storing valuable items from an abated camp was approved on second reading of the ban, warranting a third reading and vote on it Monday night. 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, which will then come back to the City Council.

Councilmember Juan Marcano said the ban is the opposite of a solution – calling it short-sighted policy and a farce – and said providing affordable housing options would better serve the city’s homeless population.

“This will not get people off the streets,” Marcano said. “This will not do what it is being built to do. We are all going to be very frustrated after we start spending more resources on moving people around the city and have nothing to show for it.”

Marcano and Murillo both noted the presence of “mega camps” in Denver and said this will start in Aurora too, where the camps get so large that the city won’t have enough shelter options for those at the site and therefore would not be able to abate it.

Mayor Pro Tem Francoise Bergan said offering people shelters and helping them connect with resources is a more compassionate approach than leaving them outside in unsanitary and unsafe encampments, especially when it gets cold.

“I think this is the first step, and we will work together to make sure that we’re providing the resources we need to get people out of their homeless condition and to be able to lead productive lives,” Bergan said.

Murillo countered Bergan and said the ban will harm the relationships city providers have built with the homeless population in Aurora. She said this will bring unnecessary costs to the city and that she looks forward to the annual review process to see how much money goes into the program.

“When I think about what is compassionate and how we treat people with dignity and respect, it’s not forcing people to abandon a place that they have chosen to survive,” Murillo said.

Metro Denver Homeless Initiative Executive Director Jamie Rife said in a Denver City Council committee meeting last week that camping bans make it harder for organizations like hers to connect people experiencing homelessness with the proper resources. Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson also spoke openly against the ban last year.