Formed two years ago to elevate the voices of people who are living on the streets, the Colorado Homeless Union has ceased weekly meetings, rebooted a monthly newsletter and is in the process of “regrouping.”

While the informal, grassroots group is not disbanding, leaders are trying to figure out where to go from here. Because while the efforts have garnered the attention of allies, or people who support the mission, the group has not been reaching the audience that the work is intended to benefit: people who are currently or who have been homeless.

“The unfortunate reality is that the voices of people with lived experience is absolutely essential. You’ve heard the expression, ‘Nothing about us without us.’ They need to be at the table,” said Kristy Milligan, CEO of Westside CARES. The nonprofit is composed of 24 churches and other houses of worship and provides services to the homeless population and low-income residents on Colorado Springs’ west side.

However, she said, it’s difficult to ask people who are struggling to survive, using their feet as transportation and carrying their belongings everywhere, to commit to attending regular organizational meetings and having their say at City Council meetings.

“Our current climate calls for people who are marginalized to eviscerate themselves and bleed all over the place before people care,” Milligan said. “Their testimony is vital to changing hearts and minds so we can move forward as a community in more humane ways.”

The Colorado Springs Homeless Union is a volunteer initiative which, unlike a labor union, does not hold a contract agreement with any entity. But it is similar in that it presents a unified voice in calling for “fair treatment” in the community. It’s structured in the way of other models across the U.S.

The local homeless union has advocated for rights that include more public restrooms and trash cans in parks, free public transportation, diversity in emergency shelter choices and less municipal ticketing for sitting or lying in certain public areas such as shopping districts.

“Our goal was to build a base of people and have the homeless union organize people unhoused or who had been. That isn’t happening. We’re doing some soul searching,” said local activist Max Kronstadt. He heads the Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership, one of the founders of the homeless union.

“It was hard to get consistent members, and there were not a ton of people who were trying to organize,” he said. “We’re focusing on recruiting core leaders who can do some of the work.”

Colorado Springs Homeless Union member Kandy Lewis has been homeless off and on since she was 18 and lived on the streets in Colorado Springs from 2015 to 2024. Last year, her number came up and she moved into Greenway Flats, a permanent apartment complex for people exiting homelessness.

The union’s lack of members who are or were homeless isn’t for lack of effort, she said.

“We’ve done a couple dozen outreach attempts. People say they’re going to come and they never do. We’re thinking of moving the meetings to go around to where the people are.”

Another problem is that street people usually have nowhere to safely store their belongings, she said.

On top of the logistics of getting people to either Westside CARES or the downtown public library for group meetings, Lewis said, “Many people have gotten so cynical they think it’s not going to do any good, so they don’t care if they participate.”

But the group claims some victories, including a few more public restrooms and free bus rides on the city’s metro system for two months in the summer.

Members also led a successful campaign to be involved in conducting the annual census of the homeless population in Colorado Springs, as they go into camps and other areas.

Homeless people who take a training session are paid $20 to become a count volunteer; they also earn $5 for every person they count, the October issue of the group’s newsletter says.

They blame “City Council and the CSPD” (Colorado Springs Police Department) for wanting the count “to be as low as possible, so they can say that homelessness is not a problem and congratulate themselves on what a great job they have done fixing the problem,” according to the newsletter article.

Milligan credits public opposition to a recent City Council proposal to ban vehicle camping for more than 24 hours in one spot on public property to the Nov. 10 outcome: the issue was delayed for another six months while council members study the idea and options.

“Anytime we can interject the voices of people affected by the policies into the conversations about the policies, we should do that,” Milligan said.

She hopes the next rendition of the homeless union empowers people who actively live or previously lived on the streets to see the importance and clout of their contributions.

But another constraint is that even speaking up often “causes them to relive the trauma by having to talk about it,” Milligan said.

“How do we give voice without retraumatizing people and build solidarity without demanding they attend every meeting?”

Along with its new monthly newsletter, “Unhoused and Unnamed,” — which Lewis titled because “that’s who we are” — the Colorado Springs Homeless Union is continuing its community service project.

The group adopted the stretch of the Legacy Loop trail that runs from Dorchester Park to America the Beautiful Park, a known walkway for homeless people.

Members clean trash from the trail every second Saturday of the month. Some months just one or two people show up. Other times it’s an event with 10 to 15 people — about the entire membership.

Lewis said she’s looking forward to Thanksgiving. It’ll be the second time she’s gotten to spend the holiday of gratitude hosting friends for dinner in her home. Last year she fed 17 people.

“It might take a little while, sometimes our numbers are small, but our spirit is mighty,” she said. “Just because we’re not having regular meetings does not mean we’re not still trying to effect change. The homeless community, they’re people and deserve to be treated with dignity.”