Conifer and Blue Spruce

[Sarah Kent]

Hello Commissioners,
I was wondering if you could please share with me what is happening to address the homeless tent camps that are developing in the area of Conifer and Blue Spruce. It is important that we protect and keep our community safe. As we have seen in large cities, this is a problem and I would like to know what our community is doing to address the issue please??

Thank you.
Sarah Kent

[Sarah Kent]

Thank you very much,

I appreciate the information and your efforts.

Sarah

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 20, 2022, at 12:27 PM, John Kefalas <kefa...@co.larimer.co.us> wrote:



Hello Sarah,

Thank you for contacting us about your concerns regarding the homeless tent camps right next to the Murphy Center on Conifer and Blue Spruce. I have walked by there a couple of times in the past few weeks and have seen firsthand this evolving situation. To your question, this is a matter for the FCPS and the City of FC to resolve because it is in the city limits, and to this point, I share a Coloradoan article from last week for your information, https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2022/06/14/fort-collins-murphy-center-work-address-homeless-camping/7611522001/. I encourage you to reach out to the FCPS, City of FC, The Murphy Center and Outreach FC to see how they are addressing this issue from a systemic approach while addressing the immediate public health and safety issues and the impacts on residents and businesses in the area. It is my understanding that the police are enforcing no trespassing and camping local ordinances, and one unintended consequence is that folks are being pushed into the unincorporated areas of the county, and our law enforcement folks have been doing their best to address this a law enforcement lens. In the county, we've seen RV campers being parked along public roads, and this is creating problems in residential and commercial areas. For example, on CR 70 east of I-25, there is an encampment alongside the road west of the KOA Campground there where people are bathing and camping , according to at least one neighbor. Our Sheriff's Deputies are aware of this situation and have been in contact with the people to get them to move (as of yesterday, this was still a problem and apparently has been going on for the past three weeks). I have nee pushing the homeless service providers, advocates and others that we need to solve this problem now, and we do cannot wait until the 24/7 homelessness campus is operating, which is at least two years away. One solution is to provide a safe space with the proper facilities to allow the RVs to park. Feel free to call me on my cell phone listed below, and this is a topic that I will discuss again with our county staff in the coming days.

	John Kefalas County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org