In the name of protecting public health, safety and sanitation, Colorado Springs City Council finalized on Tuesday a months-long debate over whether to ban car camping on public property within city limits.

The 7-2 approval of the second reading of the proposal – the same vote as the first reading on Feb. 24 – consolidates all municipal ordinances on illegal urban camping into one law and, for the first time, adds camping in cars and trucks to the mix of restrictions. Camping in RVs on streets, parks and other public property remains prohibited.

“We need a clear, accurate law,” said council member David Leinweber, who supported the proposal. “Should I be able to park in front of your house and set up a camp? No, you shouldn’t. I don’t think this moves the needle on much of anything other than giving police clear guidelines on what can be enforced or not and giving people a pathway to finding what they need.”

The ordinance originated after councilman Dave Donelson said he had received complaints about people living in their vehicles in neighborhoods for weeks or months, causing problems. Objections to the measure have increased and strengthened since the issue was first raised at a work session in October. Since then, nearly 60 people have spoken against the ordinance during public comment sessions.

Opponents argued that restricting car camping on city streets will lead to more homelessness, and it is morally offensive and is not a solution. The contingent of opponents included heads of organizations that provide services to the homeless population, as well as faith leaders such as ministers, priests and rabbis, and people who were formerly and are currently homeless.

The Rev. Paula Stecker, a retired Lutheran pastor, was upset by the council’s decision on Tuesday.

“I’m disappointed they were not ready to hear the truth of human suffering, the frustration, the need for a delay to put more resources toward the hardship of the people that are going to be pushed out of their cars by this immoral ordinance,” she said after the vote.

The Colorado Springs Faith Table, a group of religious leaders from different traditions that Stecker co-chairs, sent a letter to the council requesting a second postponement to buy time to activate an alternative parking program.

Arguing that vehicle habitation is safer and healthier than living on the street, especially for families, the 22 signers said a ban also “increases encounters with the law, and violations on a person’s record make it more difficult to get and maintain employment and housing. The consequences create more obstacles to exiting homelessness, prolonging the cycle of homelessness.”

The council voted 5-4 in November to postpone the proposal for six months, but agreed last month to put it back on the table earlier.

Tabling a vote was intended to give council members time to have their questions answered and further study the topic and options, at the request of Councilor Nancy Henjum. She and Councilor Kimberly Gold opposed the ordinance.

“This ordinance does make it illegal to sleep in your car and takes away a shelter for what we believe to be hundreds and hundreds of people – seniors, families with children, veterans, folks living in their car,” Henjum said Tuesday.

After some council members said in November that they thought the planned fines and jail time were too high and punitive for offenders, Donelson, with assistance from the city attorney’s office and the Colorado Springs Police Department, rewrote the conditions to reduce the fine to no more than $300, jail time of no more than 10 days, probation or a combination. Also, police must issue a warning for the first offense.

“Vehicles cannot be seized or removed under this ordinance,” Donelson said Tuesday. “They could be for some other reason, but not this ordinance. Police, our attorneys and municipal court will have discretion as to which, if any, penalty they enforce.”

A vehicle could be impounded if the owner has an outstanding arrest warrant, for example.

Across the nation, official documentation is scarce on how many people use their cars or trucks or RVs as a home, according to Graham J. Pruss, executive director of the National Vehicle Residency Coalition, a nationwide advocacy group headquartered in California.

One study he’s involved with determined that fewer than 100,000 people in the Western United States live in vehicles, while other research indicates the number is around 200,000, Pruss said.

In the Pikes Peak region, the Homeless Management Information System shows that from 10 people in November 2024 to 32 people in December 2024 per month who had registered for basic services were sleeping primarily in their cars from January 2024 through October 2025.

Colorado Springs police interacted with 138 vehicle camps last year and three in January, according to department data.

The new ordinance will enable police to offer vehicle campers resources such as shelters they can go to or housing they can sign up for.

But the problem is that programs such as rapid rehousing, transitional housing and residential addiction recovery often don’t have openings, with some people saying  it took them two years to gain admittance.

“Where are these people going to go?” several speakers asked.

While the city does not provide direct services, it does fund local shelter programs and street outreach of the fire and police departments, said Aimee Cox, chief housing and homelessness response officer. The city also helps connect people to resources and facilitates system efficacy, she said.

“We heard loud and clear that we need safe parking; if we’re going to have this ordinance, we need a place where we can refer people to park safely and with good sanitation,” she told the council.

Movements by independent organizations to open “safe parking” sites where people can legally park overnight and access hygiene facilities and case management to get rehoused are underway.

“We have clarified zoning for safe parking requirements, so you do have clear guidelines,” Cox said.

Codi Natelli, an emergency medical technician with Ascending to Health, a respite care program for the homeless community, is leading one of the initiatives.

“I’m not giving up,” she said. “I’m still looking at sites, and we’re working to make sure we exceed the requirements from the city for vehicle habitation.”

Pruss said communities that succeed with alternative parking also provide supportive services, including setups that are longer than just overnight and extended parking where RVs and trailers can camp for nominal fees on public lands.

“The act of living in a vehicle has tremendous value for those who are doing it as housing; for emergency housing a vehicle offers a place they can hold their property, stay with pets and have privacy and safety,” he said. “It’s a form of transitional housing and can be a medium-term solution.”