Boulder officials to examine options for sanctioned campground

Jan. 17—Boulder's City Council is set to discuss whether to create a sanctioned campground for unsheltered residents in the city and weigh its options for doing so.

Homelessness has become a more prominent issue in Boulder in recent years. Julie Van Domelen, executive director of the Emergency Family Assistance Association, a nonprofit group in Boulder, has said that as housing prices and the cost of living continue to skyrocket, growing numbers of people are visiting food banks, using emergency financial assistance and losing their homes.

Some council members have long expressed interest in creating so-called safe outdoor spaces for unhoused residents. Cities that create sanctioned campgrounds are typically trying to expand access to shelter, according to Megan Newton, city homelessness policy advisor.

"(A sanctioned campground is) considered non-congregate shelter, so folks who are unwilling or unable to stay in a congregate shelter setting ... it provides an alternative for them to engage in services, or just have an access point to services," Newton said.

There are various reasons why some unhoused people opt not to use congregate shelters, such as the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. For example, people staying in a shelter are usually separated by gender, so they're not always able to stay with their partners or family members. They may also have mental health conditions that can make staying in close quarters with other people challenging.

A city memo notes that some other cities, such as Portland, Ore., and Santa Cruz, Calif., have implemented sanctioned campgrounds. In all of the cities staffers researched, the campgrounds also offered other programs and services, such as staff who are on-site 24/7, case management and other supportive services. Newton says these other services are a key factor in how successful these campgrounds are at helping people find a way out of homelessness.

"The outcomes ... heavily depend on the services that are provided on site, as well as the exit resources that are available in the community," Newton said. "If you tie services there and then help folks to exit because you're increasing exit services, they can be relatively successful."

In the city memo, staffers presented tables comparing the logistics and costs of several different shelter options: camping tents, ice fishing tents and pallet shelters. They also presented information what it would take for the city to offer no services or staff, limited services and staff or comprehensive on-site support services.

Camping tents were the least expensive option, but even if unhoused individuals supplied their own tents, the city estimates it would cost upwards of $60,000 per year to provide needed supplies and maintenance at the site.

Pallet shelters, a type of small prefabricated structure, would be more durable, comfortable and better able to accommodate electricity and heating access, but they would cost the city more than $18,000 a piece to build. When other maintenance and servicing costs are factored in, the Pallet shelters would cost the city almost $900,000 for the first year and more than $200,000 per year in subsequent years.

To offer even a minimal level of services at the campsite would cost the city more than $35,000 per year, but a full range of on-site support services would cost roughly $1.1 million per year.

These numbers raise many questions around how feasible a sanctioned camping area would be in Boulder and how big of an impact it would have. The cost estimates given in the memo are based on the estimated 30 tents or Pallet shelters that city staff believe might fit at one of the vacant land sites the city may use for this purpose. If only one person lives in each shelter, the site could serve as few as 30 people.

Andy Schultheiss, a spokesperson for the Boulder Shelter, said that while shelter administrators do not oppose the idea of a safe outdoor space, the city will likely need to make tradeoffs in existing services to create a sanctioned campground.

"We will always advocate for more resources being poured into the four elements of the permanent housing model: units available, rental assistance, supportive services, and outreach," Schultheiss wrote in an email. "We are just trying to make the point that opportunity cost always exists."

Jennifer Livovich, a person who experienced homelessness and who has founded two homeless advocacy organizations, said she sees a sanctioned campground as a waste of the city's money that won't help people struggling with substance use and addiction.

"It is a thousand percent poor resource allocation," Livovich said. "Any additional dollars we're spending need to be invested in treatment (for substance use)."

Community members can watch Thursday's council meeting or sign up to speak during open comment at bouldercolorado.gov/events/city-council-meeting-57.