Boulder council favors permanent day shelter for homeless, upped enforcement of camping ban

During a much anticipated study session on homelessness Tuesday night, the Boulder City Council offered clear collective direction on two key points.

First, the council agreed, the city should explore creating a permanent day shelter and resource center. There's no consistent space for the homeless of Boulder to rest and to access services right now, which is hard on the homeless, hard on the churches that have to rotate responsibility for donating space and hard on the officials struggling to coordinate intake of clients in order to better understand the population.

Second, council members emphatically agreed, directing the police department in recent months to stand down on the city's camping ban was a mistake. Boulder bans sleeping outdoors, but hasn't criminalized it lately as much as it used to. Now, the Civic Area and Boulder Creek Path are popular camping spots, and the city's elected representatives are fed up.

What remains just as murky after Tuesday's 3-hour discussion as before it, however, is where any of the people Boulder wants to stop camping are going to sleep if and when police start issuing tickets again.

Read more: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30310566/boulder-council-favors-permanent-day-shelter-homeless-upped