Mayor Mike Coffman honed in on homelessness in his State of City speech on Friday, when he outlined key initiatives he said would help Aurora tackle the crisis that has soared in the last several years in Colorado’s urban centers.   

The city needs to focus on several key areas, notably affordable housing, water conservation, economic development, the lack of mental health beds, crime, and homelessness, said Coffman, who won his bid to keep the mayor’s seat in an election that also expanded the city’s conservative majority. 

In particular, he said, he’s been working on two new proposals that would make Aurora stricter on encampments and develop a new court system for low-level offenses by homeless people. 

Notably, he emphasized that Aurora will be a “work first” city, with the goal of stable housing “earned through employment.”

“Success is not getting the unsheltered homeless off the streets only to make them permanent wards of the state at taxpayers’ expense,” Coffman said. “The taxpayers of our city, who are asked to foot the bill, who get up every morning to go to work, and who share in the adult responsibilities of life, deserve better.”

Aurora’s “work first” approach stands in stark contrast to Denver’s “housing first” strategy, which means housing is offered without preconditions, such as by requiring mental health treatment or work. Advocates of “housing first” argue that an individual’s most acute need is housing, which must be addressed first, before insisting on other services.   

Aurora has also notably shifted some of its resources into behavioral and recovery programs, as well as domestic violence services.

On the enforcement end, Coffman announced progress in a proposal for a new camping ban that the mayor said he’s been working on with Councilmember Steve Sundberg. That proposal, he said, would make “life in an encampment no longer a viable option.”

In tandem with the new camping ban, he has also been working with the city’s chief judge, Shawn Day, on a proposal to create a specialized court to handle low-level offenses committed by homeless people, he said.

The court would focus on getting people into treatment in exchange for dropping the charges, as long as they complete court-ordered requirements.

The camping ban wouldn’t go into effect until the court is fully operational, he said.

The proposals will go to the City Council for deliberation next month, and, assuming the elected officials approve them, their implementation will likely take several months.

In addition, Coffman is working with Councilmember Dustin Zvonek on a navigation and resource center that consolidates homeless services into one location, a model similar to that of the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission, which Coffman has cited several times as a model he admires.

The goal of the center is to “get people on their feet, into a job, and into stable housing,” he said.

The latest data, from a count taken on Jan. 30, showed Aurora had 572 homeless people, 409 of whom were “sheltered” – meaning in emergency shelters, transitional housing or safe haven programs – and 163 were “unsheltered.” The latter applies to people who live and sleep in public spaces, such as sidewalks and under bridges, or in cars.

By comparison, Denver saw the biggest increase in the number of homeless people – 5,818 as of January, up from 4,794 last year, according to the same point-in-time count. Meanwhile, El Paso County saw a 17% drop in its homeless population – from a high of 1,562 in 2019 to 1,302 in January.

Aurora spent about $5.6 million on homelessness last year, which more closely mirrors that of Colorado Springs, which earmarked about $6.2 million for homelessness this year. On the other hand, Denver is poised to spend half a billion dollars on the crisis over two years. 

Coffman touched on several other challenges facing his city. He said Aurora has made a lot of progress in the past year and has work to do in the coming year. 

On affordable housing, Coffman said he looks forward to working with Councilmember Francoise Bergan. The mayor called the councilmember a “leader in promoting the latest technologies in modular housing to make housing more affordable for Aurora’s working families.”

He also mentioned working with Councilmember Crystal Murillo on ensuring residents and small businesses in northwest Aurora are not “forgotten” as the area is redeveloped.

On water conservation, Coffman said the city will “continue to lead by example” in Colorado, pointing to an “aggressive” water conservation proposal passed by the council that conserves water in new developments, adding that other cities have since followed suit. 

On economic development, Coffman pointed to the Anschutz Medical Campus as a driver of economic development, saying the campus produces an annual economic impact of $10 billion. His plan for economic development will focus on the campus, he said.  

Coffman and Councilmember Alison Coombs visited Aurora’s new sister city, Chihuahua, Mexico, last week and Coffman said he looks forward to working with Coombs to see what economic development opportunities there may be between the two cities. 

On public safety, Coffman talked about four legislative items that Gov. Jared Polis signed into law – the result, he said, of a conversation he had with mayors from Denver and Colorado Springs. 

The measures made all auto thefts a felony, secured grant funding for license plate readers so police departments across Colorado can track down more stolen vehicles, prohibited firearms without serial numbers or “ghost guns,” and raised the cap on the number of juvenile detention beds in Colorado so “we can keep juveniles who have been charged with violent crimes off the streets before their court dates,” he said.

The three mayors have been working on a draft legislative agenda for the 2024 session, Coffman said, and the most important item focuses on mental health. Colorado lacks mental health beds, he said, citing a Mental Health America study that ranks the state 45th out of the 50 states and D.C.

More specifically, the mayor said, the state lacks 1,000 mental health beds.

“Our state desperately needs more capacity to help with the increasing number of people who have acute mental health issues,” Coffman said. “Many of those people are living unsheltered on our streets, or are suffering, untreated, in our jails.”

On crime rates, Coffman said violent crime and property crime rates are “headed in the right direction by trending down,” but, he added, crime remains “far too high” in Aurora.

The city’s Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Policy Committee will work with Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo to bring a resolution laying out 2024 public safety priorities to bring crime rates down to the council, he said. 

The city’s most recent police academy attracted over 30 recruits and expects similar numbers for the next class in January, Coffman said. 

Another aspect of public safety is youth violence, which “remains too high,” he said. 

Coffman will work with Councilmembers Angela Lawson and Ruben Medina, as well as Aurora’s school districts, to focus on youth violence prevention programs and citywide after-hours programs for youth, he said.

The state of city is “strong” and “the future of Aurora is very bright,” he concluded.