After listening to another lengthy and impassioned round of opposition Tuesday, the Colorado Springs City Council voted 7-2 to adopt a new municipal ordinance that makes living in a vehicle illegal on public property.

The law combines existing ordinances that ban overnight urban camping near waterways, along trails, in city parks and other public places and adds vehicle camping.

“Citizens have a right to expect the city to ensure their neighborhoods are orderly, safe and clean; allowing people to live in their vehicles does the opposite,” said City Council member Dave Donelson.

Nearly 30 people who spoke for three hours in opposition said banning car camping criminalizes homelessness and removes what Scott Browne, a nursing instructor at the University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus, called “the last vestige of autonomy that people have.”

A vehicle provides stability and allows the homeless families that Tim Close, executive director of Family Promise of Colorado Springs, works with to “maintain dignity while navigating a difficult situation.”

It also offers security and keeps people and their possessions safe, Edie Wren, who has been homeless, told the elected leaders seated at the dais.

“Housing is a human right,” she said. “Homeless individuals are not expendable; it is dehumanizing to ask them to just disappear. If you allow this ordinance to pass, we’ll have more people sleeping on the ground.”

But law enforcement officials need a better tool when responding to complaints from neighbors and business owners who are affected by people living in their cars near their homes and establishments, argued council members who supported the ordinance.

“This ordinance has nothing to do with criminalizing homelessness — it regulates camping,” Councilman David Leinweber said. “There’s an important legal and moral distinction between status and conduct. We don’t want unregulated camping — there’s not proper bathroom facilities, hygiene, trash. There are all these issues that happen around that for a public standpoint.”

Donelson said he created the proposal with the help of city staff after receiving complaints from residents and realizing the most police could do was issue a nominal traffic violation citation after someone was parked in one spot for 72 hours.

For example, Donelson said one man reported being chased by a homeless person camping in his neighborhood and that he had come across people defecating in the nearby creek.

Donelson initially suggested last fall that the council consolidate local camping laws, standardize penalties and expand the category to include living in a car, truck or RV.

But in a surprise move, members voted 5-4 on Nov. 10 to delay voting for six months to further study the issue.

Because Council members’ questions have been answered and the conditions of the ordinance adjusted in response to concerns from members who voted to postpone the proposal, Donelson said he was bringing the idea back earlier than expected, which the council approved two weeks ago.

Since November, council members spoke with the city attorney’s office, Colorado Springs police and some, including Nancy Henjum, met with service providers.

Under the new ordinance, police will issue a warning at the first contact with a vehicle dweller and give them 24 hours to move on. The second time they encounter the vehicle, the owner could be ticketed, but that’s up to the officer, Donelson said.

The vehicle would not be towed and impounded, according to the city attorney’s office, unless there was something illegal in it, such as drugs or guns. And a camper would not be taken to jail unless there was an outstanding warrant for an arrest.

Adding another strike on a record can negatively affect getting rehoused and gaining employment, said Jeron Cook, who lived in his car for a time with his daughter while they were homeless.

“The car wasn’t just transportation, it was safety from the cold,” he said. “If I’d been cited during that time that would have added another barrier, another charge, another stigma.”

Henjum, who made the motion at the Nov. 10 meeting to postpone the vote and on Tuesday voted against it along with Council member Kimberly Gold, said the new ordinance “does make sleeping in your car ultimately a jailable offense,” and there can be fines associated with it.

“The law may be interpreted by police in ways that are very compassionate, but the law makes that possible,” she said.

Emily Vandenburg from the city attorney’s office said a vehicle cannot be impounded under the camping ordinance; however, if a vehicle violates an existing parking ordinance, the vehicle could be towed after 72 hours.

“Generally speaking, that’s not what our Homeless Outreach Team is going to do,” she said.

A potential penalty is for the camper to spend up to 10 days in jail and be fined up to $300, according to the ordinance.

However, “State law and our ordinances prohibit us from collecting fines from people who are indigent. The court will make a finding of that and that’s it,” Vandenburg added.

About 150 communities prohibit vehicle camping, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June 2024, that ruled cities can enforce bans on sleeping and camping in public spaces, including vehicles, without violating the Eighth Amendment’s edict on cruel and unusual punishment.

Like previous City Council discussions, the issue on the table leapt from a narrow focus on urban camping to a larger debate on solving homelessness, which has been increasing in Colorado Springs.

The estimated size of the homeless population varies widely, from a record high of nearly 1,750 in last year’s annual Point-in-Time census to about 6,850 in a statewide study on Continuums of Care released last year.

Reduced federal and limited city funding, a shortage of affordable housing, a lack of mental health assistance and other roadblocks have stymied progress, said industry professionals.

 “Where is our commitment to be solution-focused rather than criminal justice-focused?” Beth Roalstad, CEO of Homeward Pikes Peak, posed to council members. “As a society, do we allow homelessness to continue?”