Just 90 minutes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the White House on July 24 to crack down on homeless people across the nation, Garfield County elected officials and staff from the City of Glenwood Springs hosted a webinar about the local unhoused population. Prompted by a fire that ignited in late June in an encampment on a hillside adjacent to Palmer Avenue on the east side of Glenwood Springs, the webinar held the promise of solutions to the recurring problem of several tent camps on private property and federal land east and south of the city.
Glenwood Springs businesswoman Laura Speck, whose mother’s home is a “stone’s throw” from the camp that burned, told The Sopris Sun that she was disappointed with the webinar. “I was hoping that it was actually going to give some answers, because we all know the problem. We all know why there’s the problem,” she said in an interview. “So rehashing it is a waste of everybody’s time.”
Speck has been involved with the encampment situation for five years, working with two previous owners of the property, leading massive clean-up operations and trying to find a solution for what she sees as a growing hazard. “There’s no accountability. [Law enforcement] won’t arrest ’em on the spot,” she said. “The crime that they are committing is they’re trespassing and they’re starting illegal fires on land they don’t own. It’s as simple as that.”
For an hour on July 24, Glenwood Springs City Manager Steve Boyd, Parks and Rec Director Rod Tarullo, Police Chief Joe Deras, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario, 9th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Ben Sollars and Glenwood Springs Fire Marshal Robin Pitt took turns sharing thoughts about local homelessness with about 90 people tuning in via Zoom and YouTube. The webinar focused on those who choose not to use services to help find housing or mental health and substance abuse treatment. Common threads included the assertion that homelessness is a choice, education, fire mitigation activities and the complexities of arrest and legal limitations.
Sheriff Vallario mentioned revolving-door offenders: those who are arrested and released over and over again. Police Chief Deras said that the revolving door scenario does not mean law enforcement isn’t doing its job. One example Ben Sollars used was how petty offenses contribute to that. “The maximum possible penalties associated with a petty offense is 10 days in jail,” he explained. “[The offenses] also mandate a person receive a personal recognizance bond, so the likelihood of somebody remaining in custody is zero, frankly.” He added that probation can help keep offenders’ focus on ways to get help but that’s for people who are convicted of a crime.
Conspicuously absent was the landowner, whose identity is unknown at this time. Eagle River Youth Coalition dba Mountain Youth, based in Eagle County, had held the deed to the land since 2023 when developer David Forenza donated a little over 36 acres to the nonprofit youth advocacy organization. But Mountain Youth sold the parcel on July 17.
“Initial hopes were to activate the land to help serve our mission,” said Kevin Armitage, Mountain Youth board president, in an email to The Sopris Sun. “After many months of work and diligence, it was determined that the best course of action for the organization was to sell the land and utilize proceeds from the sale to help best deliver our mission.” He would not disclose the name of the buyer.
Mikayla Curtis, Mountain Youth director of strategic impact, told The Sopris Sun also in an email that they knew nothing of the homeless camps when they received the land in 2023. During the most recent clean-up of the encampment on July 10, Mountain Youth staff and board members helped out, said Curtis.
Mae Gray of New Castle said the webinar met her expectations, that she appreciated the effort to bring key decision-makers and officials together in one place. “I also appreciate that the meeting affirmed it’s a constitutional right for someone to choose to live without a home, especially as Trump’s “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” order pushes local governments toward more forceful actions,” she told The Sopris Sun. “It’s reassuring to know they’re mindful of those rights before making rash decisions about people who are often seen differently.”
No decisions were made about existing homeless encampments. Meanwhile, Speck told The Sopris Sun that she plans to meet with ECOS Environmental & Disaster Restoration this week to dispose of human excrement, bullets, propane tanks and other hazardous waste at an encampment, remnants of the July 10 clean-up day.