Update

The city council voted Tuesday to reject the ban on camping in washes but passed a measure that will ban standing in certain medians. The council did not vote on the park camping measure.

The Tucson City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to ban camping in washes, further limit sleeping in parks and minimize standing in traffic medians, opening up increased enforcement of unhoused people at a moment when high rent prices and ongoing evictions continue to drive housing instability. 

The reason, say city officials, is to get ahead of claims filed by local property owners under Proposition 312, a state-level initiative approved by voters in 2024 that allows property owners to apply for a tax refund once a year for expenses they have incurred on their property due to their locality failing to enforce laws around homeless encampments. 

“Based on the City Attorney’s advice, the Mayor and Council directed him to bring forward appropriate Code amendments that would put the City in a better position to avoid or defeat claims filed by property owners under Proposition 312,” says the city’s memo included in Tuesday’s meeting materials. 

Since the measure went into effect in January, the city has not received any claims under Prop 312 said Lane Mandle, a spokesperson for the city of Tucson.

If passed, the ordinances would make future enforcement more straightforward, she said. “We are acting in advance of claims to best position ourselves in the event we do receive claims,” said Mandle.

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But previous reporting shows that the measure, designed by the free market Goldwater Institute thinktank, could have minimal impact on localities including Tucson because most taxes are collected by the county, not the city. 

In Fiscal Year 2023/2024, the city of Tucson collected $16.9 million in property taxes, which made up less than 2.5% of the total revenue of $677 million. That was based on a primary tax rate of 43 cents per $100 dollars of assessed property value. The primary property tax rate of Pima County is more than 10 times higher.

Advocates for unhoused communities in Tucson called the measures counterproductive, saying moving people from parks and washes could lead to more camping in residential areas. 

“Not only have these methods been proven ineffective, but they are cruel and inhumane and will surely contribute to worsening cycles of homelessness,” said Elizabeth Casey with Community Care Tucson, which coordinates a weekly food distribution in Armory Park. “By criminalizing people staying in parks and washes, and knowing there aren’t nearly enough shelter or permanent housing beds, the city is essentially forcing people to go into neighborhoods, alleys and more secluded and dangerous places.” 

Here are the changes up for a vote at Tuesday’s meeting: 

  • The proposal creates a new ordinance that would prohibit camping in washes. Violating the ordinance would be a misdemeanor punishable by community service or fines not to exceed $250; imprisonment not to exceed 10 days and/or probation not to exceed one year. Read more here. 
  • The ordinance amendments related to parks change the definition of camping to include a prohibition on setting up structures in parks including shade structures, bedding or stoves, with the aim of creating a temporary place to live. Read more here. 
  • The median amendment would only allow medians on roads where the speed is over 30 miles per hour to be used to cross the street safely and not for any other purposes. Violations would result in community service, fines up to $250 or imprisonment not to exceed 24 hours. Read more here. 

In October, Tucson proposed, then withdrew, an ordinance to ban camping in washes amid community concerns. 

Ward 2 councilmember Paul Cunningham said he saw good health and safety reasons to restrict camping in washes, but wanted to make sure there was a clear connection to exposure under Prop. 312. 

“The issues around Prop. 312 and the wash ordinance proposal are a challenge for us as a council. Other cities have used a sanctioned camping model, which has had mixed results at best,” said Cunningham in an emailed statement. “Our best solution is to continue to offer more shelter space, detox beds and, most importantly, permanent family and workforce housing. We will continue to close gaps in the housing continuum.”

The city of Tucson has continued to invest in long-term supportive housing as well as emergency shelter beds. Most recently, the city broke ground on the Amazon Flats project to rehab a former motel into 30 permanent supportive housing units, with plans to build more; and is establishing a low-barrier emergency shelter that could open this spring.

Still, Tucson continues to have unhoused residents, including people who are living primarily in parks and washes. According to a recent report from the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness, 7,689 unique adults or heads of households completed an assessment seeking homelessness-related services in fiscal year 2023. 

The report painted a stark picture: homelessness in the region is increasing, funding cliffs mean fewer beds, and the majority of unhoused individuals who request help from service providers are unlikely to see any result.

According to that report, 72% of people seeking homeless services were not served in any type of housing and 11% of renters in Pima County struggled to make rent in 2023. Even as people may find beds or become housed again, people in the region continue to become newly homeless. 

“We [have] not yet observed any slowing of inflow into homelessness and there is increasing visibility of unsheltered homelessness in our community,” the report said. 

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Yana Kunichoff is a reporter, documentary producer and Report For America corps member based in Tucson. She covers community resilience in Southern Arizona. Previously, she covered education for The Arizona...