Housing Not Handcuffs
(This is a letter I wrote to the Colorado Springs City Council opposing an ordinance that would criminalize homelessness. Credit to the National Low Income Housing Coalition for the slogan, “Housing Not Handcuffs”, in their 2021 advocacy campaign.)
I write today to oppose 25-590 - Ch9-Offenses Camping Prohibited-ORD-2025-10-13, criminalizing homelessness. I am a population health scientist, specializing in low-income populations and a volunteer with Hope COS.
I am somewhat new to Colorado Springs and to the City Council, so forgive me as I venture some guesses about the Council’s goal for this ordinance. Perhaps the goal is to remove people from public spaces. Perhaps the goal is to reduce homelessness by directing people to shelters and services.
Ordinances like this have failed to reach these goals for 50 years. We have decades of research on this very topic.
The following is a quote from an amicus brief filed to the U.S. Supreme Court for 2024 case, City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson and John Logan. (Here is a link to the brief, which has 9 pages listing dozens of studies.)
“Research consistently shows that the enforcement of anti-homeless laws. … may temporarily clear homeless people and their property from any given block, acceding to the demands of individual residents and businesses while creating headlines about governmental competence and response that benefit officials and politicians. But studies consistently show that on broader geographic scales, the enforcement of anti-homeless laws fails to (a) reduce homelessness in public space, (b) increase public safety, (c) push individuals into shelter or treatment, or (d) improve public health. More often, such enforcement does the opposite.”
In short, this type of ordinance has been tried and proven ineffective. Surely, the City Council of Colorado Springs can benefit from the experience of other similar cities and avoid wasting time, resources, and money.
To reach the goals of reducing homelessness and improving public health, let’s do Housing Not Handcuffs.
I thank you for your time and attention to this.
Linda K. Riddell, MS
