AURORA, Colo. (KDVR)— Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman shared new information about a new site designed to assist the city’s unhoused population in a partnership with Salvation Army.
Located in an industrial district in Northwest Aurora, this safe camping site is the latest in the Denver metro to provide outdoor tents, restrooms, water, and more resources to a limited number of people per site in the hopes of decreasing the size and frequency of encampments.
This camp in particular can house 32 people, and is already full occupied. Other services provided include three meals per day, laundry facility access, medical care, mental health resources, case management, and job placement assistance.
Coffman said about the employment assistance service, “I would like to see more of an emphasis on work as a requirement instead of as an option.”
In the Twitter post where Coffman shared this update, he also reminded followers about his proposed camping ban which failed to pass through city council by one vote.
The ban, which Coffman plans to reintroduce next year, would allow the city to force campers to leave public property, but only if given three day notice and a place to relocate to.
The current policy in place says that the city can only force out homeless camps if they are considered a public health or safety threat.
This Safe Camping Site is one means of hoping to rehouse and rehabilitate unhoused people, and follows after similar sites in Denver at Regis University, First Baptist Church, and South Park Hill in partnership with Colorado Village Collaborative.