Aurora councilmembers on Monday night decided to outright ban camping along the I-225 corridor and establish a court specifically for misdemeanors involving homeless people.

The proponents on the council are calling the twin moves a “tough love” approach, which affirms Aurora’s preferred path to curbing its homelessness problem — by giving individuals the opportunity to accept services, including treatment, on the one hand, and by adopting, on the other hand, a policy akin to zero tolerance for people who refuse help.

The proposal to establish a court passed unanimously, while the camping ban sailed through with three ‘no’ votes from councilmembers Alison Coombs, Crystal Murillo and Ruben Medina.

The camping ban puts the entire I-225 corridor under a new trespass ordinance, in which individuals are ticketed and given a date to appear in court. And, as envisioned, the specialized court will deal with low-level offenses by homeless people, such as violating the trespass ordinance, illegal drug possession or retail theft.

“Ultimately, we want people to accept services and help within our city,” councilmember Steve Sundberg, who sponsored the camping ban ordinance, said. “(We want people) to become well, to experience healing and recovery and ultimately get back into society and contribute.”

Specifically, the camping ordinance adds to laws against urban camping in the city, adding areas that are “closed to camping” to the city code, according to council documents.

In “closed to camping” areas, unauthorized camps can be immediately cleared without prior notice.

Current, city code says people camping along the interstate are given a 72-hour notice to move and, if they do so, they are not penalized — even if they set up tents in another unauthorized location.

The new proposal takes away the 72-hour notice and results in immediate tickets to individuals, making them subject to arrest if they don’t appear for their court dates, Mayor Mike Coffman said.

Coffman said the area can be expanded, but with current resources, the city wants to address the I-225 corridor first.

The ordinance states that, if someone is offered a shelter option and refuses and also refuses or fails to move from the camp “immediately after being ordered,” the individual will be issued a citation and is subject to arrest.

“It’s a tough love approach, so we’re going to be much more aggressive in terms of abatements,” Coffman said Monday, adding, “We’re going to be much more aggressive in terms of providing resources.”

Broadly speaking, Aurora’s approach on homelessness stands in contrast to Denver’s “housing first” strategy, which, as executed, primarily moving people to shelters without preconditions. The idea, as espoused by Mayor Mike Johnston, is to get people off the streets and then give them the resources or services to help them stay out of homelessness.

Aurora, by contrast, immediately requires a sense of responsibility from homeless people, offering services at levels that depend on how much individuals are willing to work for them. The city, for example, is building a “navigation” campus with three tiers, the first of which will be a “low-barrier” shelter for people who need services but aren’t working with case managers yet, and the last of which is for people working but still in need of some services.

People in the third tier will have “even better” living conditions, including a private room, Coffman earlier said, adding, “The goal is to have a facility where each tier is fully aware of the other in order to encourage work and the participation in programs.”

Sponsored by Councilmember Curtis Gardner, the second piece of the city’s homeless approach is the establishment of the Aurora HEART — short for Housing, Employment, Assistance, Recovery, Team program in Aurora Municipal Court.

Homeless people who have been charged with trespassing or similar non-domestic violence, low-level non-violent municipal offenses will be eligible to participate in the court system, where they would be offered services and can use them in exchange for closure of the case, according to council documents.

A similar court system, called the Community Outreach Court, exists in Lakewood, and The Denver Gazette attended a court hearing in May to get a sense for how it worked. 

In Lakewood, people who want to resolve their municipal cases can attend Community Outreach Court as long as they don’t have any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions or any warrants in Lakewood involving charges under the Victim Rights Act, such as domestic violence charges.

While the court is largely geared toward homeless people, it is open to anybody, according to Jennifer Zubalik, the chief probation officer for the municipal court in Lakewood.

Court proceedings happen on one floor of the church and several organizations provide services table on another floor. The services include support for substance abuse, and mental health, as well as assistance for housing, food, employment services and others.

Jake Morales is a Lakewood resident who attended Community Outreach Court in early May to handle a trespassing charge. 

Morales said the Community Outreach Court was much more comfortable, allowing him to access services he needs much more easily than he would if he went to regular court.

“The fact that I can come here to get it handled this way, I think it’s awesome,” Morales said. “Normally I’d have to go to all of these different places to get the type of services I’m looking for, and here there’s a bit of everything.”

Shawn Ciome, who also went through the Community Outreach Court system in early May, said it’s convenient to have services and a court system that’s easy to access all in the same place.

Ciome wishes that there is some way for the city to organize transportation to the court site, but said it’s a good service for people who need resources and who already have it hard in life. 

The court is held the first Thursday of each month at Mountair Christian Church, 1390 Benton St. in Lakewood.