WARNING:

IT IS AGAINST THE LAW:

For anyone to sign any petition with any name other than his or her own or to knowingly sign his or her name more than once for the same measure or to knowingly sign such petition when not a registered elector.

DO NOT SIGN THIS PETITION

UNLESS YOU ARE A

REGISTERED ELECTOR

To be a registered elector you must be a citizen of Colorado and registered to vote in the City of Colorado Springs. Do not sign this petition unless you have had an opportunity to read or have read to you the full text of the matter proposed and understand its meaning.





You can make a difference in the lives of thousands of people experiencing homelessness in Colorado Springs.

One person at a time, we are gathering the voices and momentum to create real and lasting change for the most vulnerable in our city.



We ask the City of Colorado Springs to address matters of homelessness and poverty without compromising human and civil rights. Cities throughout the U.S. enforce laws making crimes of basic acts of survival such as sleeping, sitting, loitering, storing belongings, asking for help, and even giving or receiving free food. These laws characterize people as criminal based solely upon their housing and economic status. Furthermore, they are counterproductive, pushing already marginalized populations further to the fringes. In addition, criminalizing people experiencing poverty and housing insecurity puts HUD funding in jeopardy (http://goo.gl/7JlQsa), especially for long-term housing solutions.

Although the City of Colorado Springs has begun important work towards seeking solutions to poverty and lack of housing, much remains to be done. Even as we support the City’s decision to end the enforcement of the solicitation ordinance, we demand that the City take further measures to end and prevent the criminalization of poverty and homelessness (http://goo.gl/mGAkhi) in Colorado Springs by:

1. Repealing the Pedestrian Access Act and the Camping Ban;

2. Reviewing enforcement of loitering, park hours, and the eight other ordinances identified as criminalizing homelessness in DU Law’s “Price Too High” report and their enforcement;

3. Adopting the Right to Rest, thereby creating a Homeless Bill of Rights similar to that passed by the states of Rhode Island and Illinois. Such a Bill would prevent future dehumanization and criminalization of people in vulnerable situations, and protect public rights to enjoy the use of public spaces;

4. Fast-tracking Housing First solutions to make them top funding priorities;

5. Communicating and continuing dialogue with local organizations such as People’s Access to Homes and the CCA to work toward a system where policy priorities are set by those most affected--rapidly and creatively addressing the City’s affordable housing crisis and other shortcomings such as lack of adequate public restrooms and storage spaces.

The City ought to favor long-term, systemic solutions, over shortsighted policies which perpetuate cycles of poverty. We encourage the city to devote its energies and resources towards restorative and curative measures which connect people to resources instead of punishing and criminalizing actions which are essential to life. The time is now to restore justice to public policy and address the root causes of poverty and homelessness.