It will officially become illegal for anyone to camp on public land in Colorado Springs Wednesday.

The city's "no camping" ordinance is now in effect. It's aimed at moving the homeless populations that has become dubbed "tent city" along Fountain Creek.

Officers say they will first begin issuing written warnings and people will be given 72 hours to leave. And eventually if someone does refuse to leave their camp they will be given a citation and forced out.

"We are here to help the homeless people, we are not here to run them out overnight. It will not happen," said Officer M.J Thomson with the Colorado Springs Police Department. He says the process will be slow and their main goal will not be to write tickets, but to give the homeless a new start.

Police say they have resources set up to help the homeless find shelter. The new ordinance forces the homeless to move into a shelter and away from city land.

11 News spoke with Chris Overy and Tesley Zahner Wednesday morning. Both have spent several months camping along Fountain Creek.

"I'm sure I could get a group of 5 year olds that could pass a better ordinance than the city did," said Overy. "It's a bad idea."

Overy said he would abide by the new law but to him it's only a temporary fix. "You can't call an overnight shelter a shelter. We still have no place to clean ourselves, and no place to take our laundry."

In the last month, the Homeless Outreach Team has already found homes for more than 100. About 80 have moved into a local motel, The Express Inn near Cimarron and I-25 and about 20 others have been given free bus tickets, moving to where they have family and friends.

Both programs were made possible thanks to a grant from The El Pomar Foundation.

"The funds are running out," said Overy. "What's going to happen then? Is everybody going to get kicked out again?"

The Homeless Outreach Team says the funds for temporary shelters will run out, but they emphasize places like the Express Inn are only considered temporary housing; a way of giving people time to find jobs and get on their way. They say if camps start popping up again, they'll continue to enforce the new law.