Fears of more homeless shelter continue in Castle Rock

Zoning rules

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Plans for more shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Douglas County have run into opposition from residents in recent months and concerns about Gov. Jared Polis’ comments about local housing rules seem to have spilled into the debate.

A post on the social media platform Nextdoor, written by a user who identi ed himself as a former town councilmember, discussed a recent meeting held at e Rock church in Castle Rock.

e post in early February expressed worry about whether the church would add housing or shelter to its property.

“I stated the homeowners in the Meadows (area) bought their homes knowing the Rock church was not zoned for any such activity, such as Homeless Shelter/PODS/Apartments and/or Low Income Housing,” the post read. “Such an implementation would greatly decrease the value of their homes.” e term “pods” appears to refer to a type of small homeless shelter placed outside, as opposed to a large building.

Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray said the town’s rules for where types of buildings can be located would not allow adding shelter at the church, whether that’s pods or low-income housing.

“ e Rock church has expressed interest in doing low-income housing. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it’s not zoned for that,” Gray said, noting the opposition he has heard to the idea. e appetite for Castle Rock’s town council is not to focus on housing for the homeless, according to Gray. e area recently saw a separate plan to place temporary, collapsible “Pallet” shelters near the county jail in the Castle Rock area. e town council opposed that plan, and audience members at a June 22 Douglas County town hall meeting frequently shouted out, interrupting speakers and expressing frustration with the plan.

Douglas County’s commissioners indicated they would change their approach, and a county spokesperson said a nal vote to approve the purchase of the Pallet shelters was removed from the following week’s agenda.

Shelters factor into enforcement, o cials say

County Commissioner Abe Laydon, who had voted in favor of the Pallet shelters, has said he did so because a shelter is needed for law enforcement to enforce homeless camping restrictions.

Laydon and others have referenced People v. Wiemold, a district court case out of Fort Collins where a judge ruled a man couldn’t be cited for violating a camping ban because there was no shelter available to him.

“It’s a legal trend, essentially you can’t criminalize homelessness,”

Amy Edwards, senior assistant county attorney, has said. “It’s not a choice unless there is a bed available and they choose not to go to the bed

In Douglas County, the HEART program launched in 2022 and served as a new tool in this January’s count.

“ is is the rst year we had the HEART and leaned on their knowledge and experience to guide our unsheltered count e orts,” Rand Clark, the county’s community services manager, said in a statement.

Laydon, one of the county’s elected leaders, said his expectation was that the count would have been higher this year in Douglas County in light of HEART’s involvement in the process, so he was glad to see it was lower.

Celebrating success

Regardless of the broad trends, it’s clear that programs like HEART can make a di erence in individuals’ lives.

Marsitto, the supervisor with HEART, shared one success story at the news conference.

In October, the team contacted a 73-year-old woman who had been living in her vehicle for the past year, Marsitto said. After assessing her needs, HEART secured a hotel space for her for two weeks and found a shelter for elderly women that took her in. She has since moved into transitional housing, where she pays monthly rent for her own unit based on her income.

Marsitto said it’s important to hear the stories of unhoused people and understand their needs and the barriers they face.

“ at’s what our team is doing — we’re hearing their story,” Marsitto said.