A hotel employee answers the phone at the front desk in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located at 15500 E. 40th Avenue, in Aurora, Colorado on March 28, 2024. Recently the Aurora City Council made a decision, approving the acquisition of the 255-room hotel and convention center for nearly $26.5 million. This move is part of the city’s strategy to address homelessness, aiming to provide temporary housing and essential services.
The city of Aurora used some of its own federal ARPA dollars and received additional ARPA funds from the state of Colorado, Douglas County, Arapahoe County and Adams County to buy and renovate the facility in exchange for agreeing to take care of many of those experiencing homelessness from the entire Denver metro area.
We believe that the “work first” approach is both fair to the taxpayers, who get up every morning to go to work and who share in the adult responsibilities of life, and ultimately compassionate to those experiencing homelessness. A new camping ban ordinance is being proposed by Council Member Steve Sundberg that will dramatically change the enforcement of our existing ban. Its focus will be the I-225 corridor in Aurora, the center of gravity for much of our homeless population, but it is written to expand, as necessary, to other parts of our city. Instead of a 72-hour notice, there will be no notice, and violators will be ticketed and given a court date for a trespassing offense.