We, the undersigned, join the Fort Collins Homeless Coalition in calling on our elected officials to ensure:

Temporary housing for everyone.

Quarantine housing for people experiencing homelessness, and a sensible plan for moving people into quarantine that takes into account the dismal shortage of tests.

An immediate end to camping ban enforcement.

We need to house everybody as quickly as possible. A majority of the people experiencing homelessness in Fort Collins are elders, have disabilities, are immune-compromised, or have other medical concerns that place them in the “higher risk” category. And most unhoused people are constantly exhausted, traumatized, and are frequently the targets of stigma, criminalization, and other mistreatment that increases stress and vulnerability. Not only are people more likely to be exposed to illness while staying in shelters, but people experiencing homelessness are among those likely to require intensive treatment to survive. Housing is a form of healthcare that we can offer immediately, and which will help our entire community.

Experts have told us that an immediate period of hardcore social distancing is necessary. We are being ordered to avoid gatherings, and Larimer County has issued a Stay-At-Home Order. Yet hundreds of people have no home to stay in, and no choice but to gather together in shelters. This includes people who may be sick, but who have not been able to get tested, and do not have a home to self-isolate in while they wait to see how their symptoms progress. Even with increased distances between sleeping mats on the floor, a highly contagious disease such as Covid-19 will spread faster in a shelter environment than across individual/family housing. If infection spreads rapidly, our hospitals will be overwhelmed, and our most vulnerable neighbors will suffer greatly.

We know that our local governments are already responding to this pandemic, and we stand with them in demanding that they receive all the resources they need. However, we are concerned that current emergency efforts still exclude many -- for instance, Larimer County’s announced “isolation site” plans to exclude people who are self-isolating without a mandatory quarantine order, which (due to the appalling lack of testing) is likely to be a large number of people.

During this time, we need shelters and services to remain open, and to have all the resources they require to keep helping people. We need vastly improved public hygiene facilities. We also need to make sure that nobody loses their housing – our governments need to issue immediate moratoriums on evictions & foreclosures, and on rent, mortgage, utility and loan payments.

In Fort Collins, we also need to stop enforcing the camping ban, so that people who feel safer sleeping outside of crowded shelters can do so, and so that everyone can stay in contact with outreach and health workers. While the camping ban remains in effect, people cannot safely self-isolate in tents or vehicles. The CDC recently published guidelines which urge law enforcement to not break up encampments and to let people sleep outside at this time.

We need to act together, now, in this moment of clarifying global solidarity. It is necessary for your health, for mine, and for ours. Right now, our community has empty rooms and buildings, and also people who need housing. Our community has struggling local restaurants, and also people who are going hungry. Our community has what we need to get through this crisis, and to fight for what we need beyond this moment, so that together we can build a healthier community with more justice, more safety, and more care. But we need to act with urgency.