Is there a solution to homelessness in Colorado Springs?

Homelessness is an issue Colorado Springs has been dealing with for years. There’s been countless meetings, camp clean-ups, possible solutions brought up.

Even here at the KRDO Network, we’ve brought you countless stories on the issue spreading a wide variety from following along with the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), shelter capacity, panhandling and more.

But still we hear complaints about trash left behind, people illegally camping, polluting waterways, loitering. So what’s being done to address it all?

“We encounter the same people nearly every single day,” Sgt. Curt Hasling said.

Hasling is with the HOT team which has grown since 2009 from three to six officers.

But Hasling said even if he had unlimited officers, the struggle is the mindset he and his team are trying to change.

“The chronically homeless, they’re a difficult population to work with, a lot of them simply, because of mental illness or substance abuse in a variety of other things, they say they choose to want to live this lifestyle,” Hasling said.

It’s those chronically experiencing homelessness that has Sheriff Bill Elder concerned.

“Our concern is that if we let off the throttle at all that it will overwhelm us,” Elder said.

That lifestyle merges with the other people living here in Colorado Springs, who don’t think about where they’ll go to sleep tonight. Those two worlds colliding, create a tough balance.

“I think the public has a hard time coming to grips with the fact that a there’s an element of the population who are you know not accepting the invitation to be sheltered,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said.

Suthers has heard the complaints from the community but said the city is bound by the law.

“That’s what I want our folks to know, we’re trying the best that we can,” Suthers said.

But even the best leave some wanting.

“Everybody’s frustrated, I know a lot of downtown business owners are frustrated,” Kelly Bubach said.

Bubach owns Urban Steam which is a block down from the Springs Rescue Mission and right next to Fountain Creek.

“We’ve done creek cleanups down here with other organizations we’ve sponsored them breakfast and coffee to come down here that hasn’t happened in a while I think they got just tired of their work being undone every week. And they’d have to come and take dumpsters full of trash every week,” Bubach said.

Amidst the frustrations, amidst those trying, it still leaves Bubach trying to figure out the issue.

“I wrestle with this problem in my mind and my heart every day,” Bubach said. “I wish I had a solution, I wish I knew the answer. I wish one person could make the difference.”

Beyond the clean-ups, beyond the meetings, beyond plans, what’s the solution?

How do we handle these two worlds colliding in Colorado Springs?

When we asked if there’s a solution to homelessness in Colorado Springs and El Paso County, the people at the top are trying to find the answer.

“Well, there’s not a solution to eliminate it. But I think there’s a solution to minimize it,” Suthers said.

“There’s a lot of people that have really good ideas, I think that just like eating an elephant we say you gotta eat a bite at a time. Everything we do helps,” Elder said.

“I believe that homelessness is a symptom of a myriad of issues and I don’t believe that we’re going to end homelessness per se in our community,” Andrew Phelps, the Homelessness Prevention and Outreach Coordinator for the City of Colorado Springs said.

“If there is, I don’t know what it is,” Hasling said.

With no real solution to the homelessness issue here, Elder is looking at immediate issues like what happens with House Bill 1263 which is looking to lower some drug offenses from a felony to a misdemeanor.

He believes it could mean more people are on the streets and subsequently in his jail.

“If someone is caught with possession of those drugs we don’t take them into custody and give them a summons and send them on their way we just give them a summons and they promise to appear,” Elder said. “My concern is when they don’t appear, we’re going to have a warrant issued for their arrest.”

But regardless, Elder recognizes this population isn’t going away.

“No matter what this bill does I expect to see the number of homeless grow like we’ve seen over the past 6 or 8 years,” Elder said.

For Suthers, five years from now he hopes some problems are solved.

“I hope we have significantly increased our affordable housing stock, including permanent supportive housing, so we’re able to move those people who want to be sheltered into permanent supportive housing,” Suthers said.

With 2019 numbers not out yet, the 2018 point in time count showed there were about 1500 people experiencing homelessness in El Paso County that number has been on the rise since 2015.