Homeless Outreach Team keeps busy, shares experiences, frustrations in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has had little impact on the city's overall homeless situation, according to the police department's Homeless Outreach Team.

But the seven-member unit remains as busy as ever, responding to a variety of homeless issues.

"A revolving door is what it is," said Sgt. Olav Chaney, who has been the unit's supervisor for the past year. "We do what we can, and we've had some success. But we can do only so much with limited resources and responding to situations all over the city. The hard-core homeless know that, and take advantage of it."

Chaney said that around 80% of homeless people camping illegally are repeat offenders.

"Take the area south of downtown along Fountain Creek," he said. "That's probably one of our worst areas for illegal camping. It may not seem like it to the public, but we are there every day. We cite people, we arrest some who have active warrants, we tell them to move on. But many times, we'll have to go on another call, and we're unable to come back immediately. The tents go right back up. I can remember only one time that we were able to have every tent in a camp, taken down in the same day."

The HOT team recently spoke exclusively with KRDO NewsChannel 13 on a day that a camp was shut down behind the Springs Rescue Mission -- a place where many campers could get, but don't want, help.

A crew also was on hand to clean up accumulations of trash in the camp.

Chaney said that he's seeing more homeless people coming here from other areas who are unaware of the city's illegal camping ordinances.

"There's a homeless website," he said. "I haven't seen it yet, but some of my officers know about it. The homeless community throughout nation communicate with each other on it. It ranks Colorado Springs among the top six places where the homeless should visit."

One of those visitors is Gary Turner, a former University of Colorado football player who is on parole after serving 12 years on an assault conviction. He said that because of philosophical differences, he was recently kicked out of housing provided by his church, and he's also been banned from the mission after a dispute with another homeless man.

"I have two months left on my parole," he said. "I'm going to try and ride it out here. But someone needs to designate a place where the homeless can go. This is a disgrace. I'm 62 years old and from East St. Louis, so I don't have family and friends to rely on. Many of the homeless are in similar situations."

Is the homeless situation showing any improvement?

"It depends on where you are," Chaney said. "I think we're making progress. It's slow progress. But our goal is to find the one or two homeless people out of ten who really need help."

Chaney said that citizens can help reduce illegal camping by posting "no trespassing" signs, installing effective nighttime outdoor lighting, and being willing to prosecute illegal campers for trespassing, theft and other crimes.