Glenwood Springs city officials hosted a town hall on homelessness Thursday evening following a 1.5-acre fire near Walmart in June that forced evacuations at the Altitude Apartments.
Some residents blamed the fire on a homeless encampment in the area and remain concerned about increased fire danger this summer.
The Glenwood Springs Fire Department determined that the fire was human-caused, but no charges were filed
Ninth Judicial District Attorney Ben Sollars was among the panelists and said everybody is entitled to due process, but no one is entitled to endanger the lives and safety of others.
“I think that this community is focused on compassion,” he said. “I think this community recognizes that there's boundaries to that.”
Sollars said at this time last year, there had been 38 cases filed against people experiencing homelessness, and so far this year, there have been 55 — a 45% increase. Cases include petty crimes like trespassing and loitering, which can result in a citation or the maximum penalty of 10 days in jail. Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said his office can’t do much else.
“What's frustrating to us is frustrating to you,” he said. “Clearly, we're dealing with the same people over and over again. … I mean, there's an old joke about the revolving door. … We're not solving the problem. We're just continuing to repeat it over and over.”
When asked why there weren't any advocacy groups representing unhoused individuals on the panel, Vallario said organizers were solely addressing city-level interventions.
Vallario said he walks through encampments with police officers often, and many of his deputies know members of the homeless community by name.
He added that a lot of these people choose to be homeless, despite audience members referencing the region’s housing crisis.
“Economic things — it could be a mental health issue,” Vallario said. “It could be a variety of things, but those are the people that are the ones that we deal with on a regular basis and don't necessarily appreciate or enjoy some of the services that are available.”
The city of Glenwood Springs allocates $100,000 annually to address homelessness through sheltering, cleaning up encampments, partnering with organizations like West Mountain Regional Health Alliance and providing other services.
Glenwood Springs City Council is also working on plans for a homeless shelter, conducting research to see what is working in other communities.
