The City of Boulder has updated its protocol for clearing out encampments of homeless people to place greater emphasis on those located near schools, according to an internal policy that was updated earlier this month.
The incremental shift is a response to the passage of the Safe Zones 4 Kids ballot measure in the 2023 city election. Supporters of the measure said they were concerned about homeless people sleeping near Boulder High School, particularly after the city said several fires were caused by propane tank explosions at encampments adjacent to the school.
The prevalence of people sleeping outside in the City of Boulder underscores the rising number of homeless people across the county. The city’s internal policy uses a numerical scoring system to prioritize which encampments should be cleared first. The score takes into account factors such as whether the encampment is in a floodway, near a playground or whether it poses a fire risk.
The Safe Zones 4 Kids measure, which passed with about 60% support, amended city code to make tents and propane tanks near schools, sidewalks or multi-use paths “subject to prioritized removal.”
Boulder’s approach to addressing homelessness took center stage during the 2023 city election, with Safe Zones 4 Kids being the focal point of much of the election conversation.
The election heightened tensions between those who want the city to continue or increase its controversial practice of clearing out encampments and ticketing homeless people for sleeping in public spaces, and those calling for a reduction or end to those measures. Local civil rights lawyers are seeking to block enforcement of the city’s camping ban through a lawsuit that is scheduled for a trial in August 2024. And in April 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a case stemming from a lawsuit in Oregon alleging a city’s camping ban amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
The update to the city’s internal policy on encampment removal assigns an extra 40 out of 150 points to encampments located within 50 feet of any multi-use path or sidewalk and within 500 feet of a school. The change effectively bumps those encampments to the top of the priority list for removal, according to Joanna Bloom, deputy director for policy and planning in the city’s Utilities Department, which helps oversee encampment removals.
“I think we’re moving the needle,” Bloom told Boulder Reporting Lab.
She said it is too soon to know the impact of the changes. Regardless, the number of encampments near Boulder High School has declined amid pressure from concerned residents. The city recently put up fences around the Andrews Arboretum, which is adjacent to Boulder High’s athletic field and a place where people have historically slept.
Jud Valeski, the chair of the ballot measure committing backing Safe Zones 4 Kids, told Boulder Reporting Lab he is waiting to see how implementation of the measure plays out over the next year before passing judgment.
“I think it’s mostly wait and see,” Valeski said.
Valeski and others have said they want the city to remove encampments without providing a 72-hour notice. The city generally provides this notice because courts across the U.S. have ruled that the 14th Amendment ensures homeless people are given due process in the form of “reasonable notice” before they are ordered to vacate public spaces.
Even so, the city’s internal policy still allows for the immediate removal of an encampment if it poses an “immediate hazard or threat to public safety.” Such a circumstance includes a tent on a multi-use path or someone sleeping in a culvert when floods are forecast, according to the policy. The policy was updated this month to state that if an encampment is within 500 feet of a school, “enforcement or abatement may occur immediately,” but it does not require it.
Doug Hamilton is a member of the Solutions Not Safe Zones ballot measure committee, which was set up to oppose the measure, also known as 302, and drive a conversation about the underlying causes of homelessness, such as the unaffordable cost of housing.
Hamilton questioned whether the measure will change anything in practice.
“It is immediately apparent that Measure 302 will not bring about the promised safety along sidewalks and for our school children,” Hamilton wrote in an email to Boulder Reporting Lab. “It is sad that, here we are, four months from the election and still no closer [to] the public safety the proponent’s promised.”
Good article. Concisely informative.