Colorado Springs officials will hold public meetings next week to gather input for the latest iteration of the city’s plan to address its population of people experiencing homelessness.
The long-term Homelessness Response Plan was last updated in 2019. In a press release, the city said the plan will outline strategies “to keep homelessness brief, rare, and nonrecurring.”
“One of the main public safety concerns I hear from residents is around homelessness in Colorado Springs,” Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said in the release.
The city says the plan will focus efforts on six priorities:
- Increase on-the-ground programs, such as the police department’s Homeless Outreach Team, as well as the availability of shelter options.
- Enforce current laws on urban camping and panhandling in an effort to protect the wider population, as well as property and the local environment.
- Improve employment opportunities for people experiencing homelessness.
- Prioritize mental health care as a preventive response to homelessness.
- Increase housing units for those at the bottom of the income ladder, in particular those which connect to other low-income services.
- Communicate with the public in a transparent and accessible manner.
Katie Sunderlin, the city’s acting chief housing officer, said the priorities resulted from dozens of meetings, including mayoral listening tours, telephone town halls, and internal departmental planning sessions. She said those meetings compiled feedback from more than 4,000 participants on homelessness in the city.
The plan will create a blueprint for the city to use for the next five years, Sunderlin said, and will inform budget priorities submitted to city council.
Public meetings on the upcoming revised plan will be held Thursday, Aug, 15, both virtually and at the city administration building (30 S. Nevada Ave., Room 102).
Registration for the meetings is available at this link.
Sunderlin said the city intends to release the plan before Mobolade’s State of the City Address in September.
