Colorado Springs-area homeless camps scatter after ban, but still remain

Five years ago, Colorado Springs banned camping along Monument Creek. The move was aimed at camps set up by homeless people looking for a place to sleep.

Since then, the Gazette reported Sunday, the camps have moved but the problem remains:

... elaborate campsites and abandoned tents like this one remain commonplace miles from Colorado Springs' City Hall.

They rest near trickling creek beds, alongside businesses and across undeveloped private property stretching to the city's eastern boundary and beyond. One tattered tent was roughly 200 yards behind the Colorado Springs Police Department's training academy, where new police recruits earn their badges.

These tents house a largely invisible population whose options for shelter or affordable housing are few amid short-term and permanent housing shortages.

"The homeless haven't gone anywhere," said Andrew Phelps, an outreach specialist with Homes for All Veterans. "They're still here - they're just not along (Monument Creek)."

Read more at Gazette.com.