The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has called off the planned cleanup of a homeless encampment at Rocky Top Resources — arguing they have no legal authority to force people off the property.
Sheriff Bill Elder said the business owner told a nonprofit the campers were allowed to live there. Despite Rocky Top’s owner having changed his mind, as their landlord he needs to follow the civil eviction process for removing tenants, Elder said.
The development highlighted the legal implications that private property owners can encounter by allowing homeless campers to live on their property. And it came amid a growing debate over how best to address the region’s persistent and growing issue of homelessness – whether it’s sanctioned camping, nonprofit-led initiatives or stiffened law enforcement campaigns.
About 100 people in at least 75 tents are living in a quarter-mile-long encampment along the banks of Fountain Creek off East Las Vegas Street south of the Martin Luther King Bypass. Many of the homeless campers kept their areas free of trash, filling plastic garbage bags provided by a nonprofit. Others were strewn with refuse and discarded clothing, plastic jugs and other belongings.
