The Department of Justice and HUD have recently declared camping bans and other quality of life and anti-vagrancy laws a violation of the 8th Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause. Boulder stands to lose over $6 million in funding due to having and enforcing such laws aggressively. The Human Relations Commission, an advisory board to City Council, agreed to formally petition City Council to change their camping ban policy at their November 16th meeting.
On October 29th a panel discussion was held to discuss the this topic and invite community conversation. The panel featured Leanne Wheeler, Vice President of the Metro Denver Homeless Coalition, David Harrison, a Boulder defense attorney, Nantiya Ruan, Professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and City Council Member Sam Weaver.
You can hear the entire panel along with along with community discussion here:
-
play_arrow
Panel Discussion on Boulder Camping Ban kgnu
(download)
Q&A:
-
play_arrow
Panel Discussion on Boulder Camping Ban kgnu
(download)