It’s an issue that we see often here in Colorado. Homeless camping. Many experience the tangible (and unintended) consequences of “camping” on a regular basis. This includes garbage on private property, brush fires, explosions, human feces plus other toxins in waterways. And problems on residential and business private property abound.

Mayor John Suthers, along with many others, says the city needs to establish affordable housing with services on-site for those in need. But, for now, we just try to move illegal campers. Then we clean up the mess left behind. In the last year, we have removed at least seven large homeless camps and more than 20 tons of garbage.

The cleanups help angry residents and business owners feel safer. But homeless campers feel that their rights are being violated.

Today, the legislation called Right To Rest goes before a committee of Colorado lawmakers. This bill attempts to establishes these rights for homeless people: the right to use and move freely in public spaces, to rest in public spaces, to eat or accept food in any public space where food is not prohibited, to occupy a legally parked vehicle, and to have a reasonable expectation of privacy of one’s property. Bill sponsors believe this legislation will lower the incidence of homeless residents being arrested unfairly.

The bill helps homeless campers to feel safer. But angry residents and business owners feel that their property rights are being violated.

Can we help everyone?

Los Angeles has been the poster child of homelessness. Scared of the ACLU, they passed laws to decriminalize homelessness. Laws just like Right To Rest in Colorado.

Unfortunately, they passed these laws without adequately increasing supportive housing with services. Residents continued being hurt by a high housing and rental market. The result was disastrous. Now with a record 58,000 homeless, they must change.

Everybody In is a voter approved measure to build supportive housing. The city of LA is partnered with the county and over 300 nonprofits working in tandem to help to lift their homeless population. They use a housing first model paired with services.

Yes the solution will take 10 years to implement. But they will permanently solve the issue of homelessness. Better late than never.

LA has learned the hard way, that criminalizing the actions related to homelessness only increases it. Saddling people in crisis with criminal records only decreases their ability to obtain life-lifting work. Especially if you imprison them. We shouldn’t repeat this mistake.

They also learned that special efforts to keep homeless people out of jail without giving them a place to live, also increases homelessness. In Los Angeles, they passed these laws without an inadequate affordable housing response to one the highest rental and housing markets in the nation. We can’t repeat this mistake either.

The concept of Everybody In has been proven. In Connecticut, they have made the concept work. They achieved this through combining resources with nonprofits , corporate gifts, individual/group donations, federal, state and city funds.

Led by their governor, they gathered data from service providers to the homeless to understand and implement best practices.

All this happened as they built a huge amount of affordable housing. Called, the Reaching Home Campaign – it is just another name for Everybody In. And in Connecticut, they have eradicated homelessness among veterans, and drastically dropped it in all other groups. We can repeat this success.

Check out Everybody In including the citizen oversight/accountability to use funds well here at: http://everyoneinla.org/

Now, we know what works. Let’s Scrap Right To Rest and get Everybody In.

We have few choices left. In Colorado Springs, homeless camping has become a threat to public safety. Our waterways now have E. Coli, other bacteria, plus viruses as well as toxins with levels climbing almost as quickly as our homeless population. Arrest and removal will not resolve this danger.

It is time to build affordable housing like we have never built before. Please support our public safety for everyone.

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Rachel Stovall is a longtime community advocate and organizer. Also a fundraising, media and marketing consultant, Stovall is most known for singing with her dance band Phat Daddy and the Phat Horn Doctors.