Veterans group sues Colorado Springs contractor for raids on the homeless

A veterans group claims that a Colorado Springs organization has raided homeless camps, trashing VA paperwork, medication, photos, identification and even service medals belonging to homeless veterans.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Veterans Alliance filed suit in federal court this week, claiming that Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful violated the homeless veterans’ civil rights. KCSB focuses on litter clean up, but also works with police officers to identify homeless camps and ask the residents to leave before cleaning up. The organization has received $45,000 in city funds.

Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful, for its part, says that it only takes garbage, not personal items. “We are not a group that targets people,” Deborah Cunningham, the group’s director, told the Gazette. “We clean up trash.”

Controversy surrounding the homeless is not new to Colorado Springs. Bob Holmes, the director of Homeward Pikes Peak, has been widely criticized for his tough love treatment of the homeless, which includes forcing them to carry ID.

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