Public speakers urge alternatives to camping enforcement as council sets June 3 hearing

Dozens of residents, service providers and advocates urged Grand Junction city leaders on May 20 to resist rewriting municipal camping rules in ways that would further criminalize people without housing and instead invest in sanitation, outreach and housing solutions.

“We should be focusing on solutions that will actually improve the situation for our community as a whole,” said Kristen Bridal, vice chair of the Homeless Coalition and program and outreach coordinator for Mutual Aid Partners, arguing that changing ordinance language would “alienate people further” and push them away from services.

Other speakers described personal experience with houselessness and urged caution. Andy Hamilton, a resident who said he felt “powerless,” urged council not to remove the shelter-based exemption from the camping code and warned that criminalizing day-to-day living would increase emergency and criminal-justice costs: “Further criminalizing and punishing homelessness and poverty will waste more money, time, and resources,” he said.

Service providers and advocates offered alternatives. Stephanie Vasquez, executive director of Mutual Aid Partners, pointed to coordinated outreach and a river-camp cleanup led by unhoused neighbors that removed 6,700 pounds of trash in a week. She urged the council to prioritize housing, behavioral-health outreach and preventive services and to weigh the practical impacts of language changes on service delivery.

Several commenters recommended near-term sanitation measures — strategically placed dumpsters and porta-potties along the river corridor — as a less punitive, cost-effective approach that could reduce environmental and public-health harms and lower repeated contractor cleanup costs.

Council members discussed timing and legal implications. Some members said providers and defenders asked for more time to respond; others noted available shelter capacity reported by Pathways and favored proceeding. A motion to move the ordinance’s second reading earlier failed; council ultimately voted to set a public hearing for June 3, 2026 on the riverfront-related code changes (vote on the introduction passed, recorded as 6–1 on the motion to introduce the riverfront rules). The hearing will follow the city’s public-notice process and allow further public testimony and a formal second reading before any enforcement change.

The council packet includes staff analyses and public-defender correspondence; the city clerk said the formal public hearing will provide an opportunity for providers and residents to present data and proposed alternatives before a final vote.