While Boulder continues to review a letter sent by the ACLU that demands a moratorium on enforcement of the city’s camping ban throughout the winter, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless has decided to add five beds, bumping its nightly capacity to 145 people.

Furthermore, the Boulder Shelter announced Tuesday that it will move an additional five residents to a hotel on Saturday night because of the impending cold weather. While snow is predicted on Friday, the hotel is booked that day, according to Interim Executive Director Spencer Downing.

The letter from the ACLU was sent to the city on Thursday, primarily in light of the fact that it’s now winter and the shelter has been hitting capacity in recent months. The ACLU requested a full response by Dec. 24.

“At this point, I can tell you that we are reviewing the letter and will respond,” Boulder spokesperson Sarah Huntley wrote in an email. “There are no additional details to share.”

Annie Kurtz, an attorney and Equal Justice Works fellow with the ACLU, confirmed that the city acknowledged receipt of the letter on Dec. 24 but said it did not provide the full response requested.

Boulder’s camping ban makes it illegal for a person to sleep on public property if using any protection from the elements besides their clothing, while its more recently enacted tent ban generally prohibits tents in city parks and public property.

According to the letter, written and signed by Kurtz, “wielding the criminal law to punish people for acts of survival, like sleeping under a tent or deploying shelter as minimal as a blanket or sleeping bag, will do nothing to alleviate houselessness in Boulder.”

“We know the opposite is true: These failed practices have been shown to funnel people deeper into the cycle of criminalization that traps people living in poverty and to isolate already vulnerable individuals from service providers, community and safety,” the letter states.

In the past, the Boulder Shelter often reported unused beds, but that has not been the case in recent months.

According to the online dashboard maintained by the city’s Housing and Human Services Department, which shows data through Dec. 21, as many as eight people on one night were turned away due to capacity issues at the shelter in December.

“It’s a blatant constitutional violation if they are continuing to cite people even though the shelters are full,” Kurtz said.

“What we’ve asked Boulder for is really the bare minimum,” she added.

The Boulder Police Department could not be reached for comment.

In an email announcing the capacity changes, which were agreed upon working in conjunction with Boulder County Public Health, Downing noted that long-time Boulder Shelter staff often point out that there is not necessarily a correlation between available beds and the number of people who ask to stay in them.

“We may still hit capacity even with our increased numbers,” Downing wrote.

“For that matter, I’m not aware of a community our size that has solved the problem of people sleeping outside by creating more shelter beds,” he added. “As always, the Shelter’s staff is most interested in people getting sustainable housing.”

This is not the first time the ACLU of Colorado has questioned Boulder’s policies.

Earlier this year, Homeless Solutions for Boulder County rescinded a policy that required people live in the county for six months to obtain housing services.

Though the decision to do so had been made in a board meeting months earlier, it was not officially announced until the ACLU wrote a letter to officials, arguing the policy was inhumane and unconstitutional.

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