Two Campers on 54 Acres: A Federal Judge Lets a Colorado Church Keep Sheltering the Homeless

• The Rock, an evangelical church in Castle Rock, Colorado, shelters homeless people in two campers in its parking lot.
• Town zoning bans residential use on the church’s 54-acre property and bans living in RVs anywhere in town.
• The church sued under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.
• A federal judge ruled the church can keep sheltering people while the lawsuit proceeds.

A Colorado church that lets homeless people live in campers in its car park has won the right to carry on, for now. Colorado Public Radio, carrying an Associated Press report, said a federal judge has ruled that The Rock church in Castle Rock can continue while its lawsuit against the town plays out.

The Rock is a nondenominational evangelical church led by Pastor Mike Polhemus. It runs two RVs in its parking lot to shelter people without homes. The town’s zoning rules do not allow residential use on the church’s 54-acre property, which is not zoned for housing, and ban living in RVs anywhere in town. The church began this outreach nearly a decade ago, first sheltering women and children one night a week. The report noted that surrounding Douglas County has no other homeless shelters.

The church’s lawsuit invokes the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. Polhemus said: “The word of God actually commands us to love those that are struggling and poor and to shelter them.”

Joe Ridenour, who lived in one of the RVs for a year after losing his job during the pandemic, said: “Without this trailer and this church, I wouldn’t be alive. The drug use would have consumed me.”

The case sits where church land, zoning and housing meet. A church may own a large property and still be limited in how it can use it, and temporary structures like campers or containers can fall foul of planning rules just as permanent buildings do. Jamaican churches thinking of offering emergency housing, whether after a hurricane or for people living on the streets, should check with the parish municipal corporation what uses their land is approved for. Having that settled early protects both the ministry and the people it serves.

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