After months of indecision, eight of nine City Councilors gave final approval Tuesday to ordinances that outlaw camping on city lands, giving police the power to clear out hundreds of homeless people living on urban creek banks.

Councilors said they were relying heavily on the word of city workers and experts, who said the new ordinances would be enforced with compassion. They also said homeless campers would be able to find shelter with local charities.

For instance, Bob Holmes, executive director of the umbrella homeless group Homeward Pikes Peak, has told Council repeatedly that there are plenty of beds. And yet every time Holmes has offered encouraging numbers, Patrick Ayers, leader of homeless outreach group CS Hope, has scoffed and said the opposite is true.

Council eventually decided to trust Holmes, its own expert. But the question lingers: Who was right? And what will happen when the tents —homes to around 350 people — come down?

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