Tucson is again considering an ordinance to ban camping in washes — adding to the city’s existing measures that restrict where unhoused people can sleep, including parks and other public spaces.
Almost one year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in a case called City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities could arrest and criminally charge unhoused people for sleeping in public, regardless of whether they had anywhere else to go.
Since then, the city of Tucson has been grappling with how it would police homelessness. City council weighed and rejected multiple efforts to restrict camping in washes. At the same time, the city has cleared both Santa Rita Park and 100-Acre Wood Bike Park, both areas where dozens of people were camping.
Now next week, the wash ordinance is expected to be back on the agenda.
Tucson City Council split on votes to criminalize people who are homeless
In the years Gerald Montag has spent rescuing animals that live on the street, he’s also made friends with people who live on the street:… Keep reading
Tucson proposes new limits on camping in washes, standing in medians — with possible fines, jail
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,… Keep reading
Tucson withdraws ordinance to ban camping in washes amid community concerns
Ana Armijo used to camp at Santa Rita Park, but she expected to spend Wednesday night “in an alley somewhere.” Alejandro Martinez’s friend, who also… Keep reading
The pressure for more enforcement comes from individual complaints, say city council members, as well as lawsuits like one by the residents of Hedrick Acres, who went to court to argue the city of Tucson was responsible for “public nuisance” caused by a group of people living in Navajo Wash.
City Attorney Mike Rankin said the wash ordinance in particular was introduced in response to 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.
But critics of the city’s approach say clearing encampments only destabilizes already vulnerable communities, particularly amid extreme heat. Research from the University of Arizona shows that homelessness in Tucson persists in part because of a housing system that makes rental or homeownership access unaffordable, the ongoing flow of people into homelessness through eviction and high rent, and a homeless service system that means many people never receive any help.
Any additional enforcement like the wash ban would only further criminalize people living outside, say opponents.
“What is new to me is a local government willing to pile on to the suffering, a city council whose solution to get the people off the street is to take the street away,” said Gerald Montag, criticizing the ordinance proposal during the public comment period at a March Tucson City Council meeting. He lamented that some of Tucson’s most vulnerable people have fewer and fewer places to go for shelter.
As city council plans to weigh in on the future of a wash ordinance Tuesday, here are some of the tools already in use to limit where people can sleep outside in Tucson:
Sweeping camps
Tucson has a tiered enforcement protocol when deciding whether to disband some encampments.
The process can be initiated by a public complaint by phone or through an online reporting tool, according to the city manager’s office. Encampments are assessed in three tiers, with the third being “high problem encampments,” and some encampments tagged for immediate removal.
Between October 27, 2022 and April 30, 2025 the city created 5,021 cases related to encampments. Over the past year, that included clearing large encampments in Santa Rita Park and 100 Acre Wood — and Amphi Park was essentially closed down by a church that owned the land.
Rights of people in encampment sweeps
Even when authorities remove encampments, people experiencing that removal have certain rights, says a guidance document developed by Pima County. Those rights include:
- The right to remain silent
- The right to an attorney if you have been detained or arrested
- The right, in most cases not to have your property searched without a warrant
- There are several cases in which police may conduct a search regardless, which include an “inventory search” when law enforcement takes possession of property
The city also notes in documents that when clearing encampments it coordinates outreach to people living in the encampments with social service providers like Primavera and El Rio Health.
In a recent joint effort among Pima County, various service providers and Tucson police meant to reroute people from jail into housing or other supports through on-site processing, the Tucson Police Department set up a services center near the Loop bike path on Tucson’s west side, just north of Speedway.
By 8 a.m. on May 22, the police had already cited multiple people who had been down in the wash and took 13 people directly to treatment facilities or housing.
Of 66 contacts during the homeless outreach operations, there were 39 arrests, according to the Tucson Police Department. Fifteen of those cases were conducted through on-site court hearings, Tucson police said, to steer people away from jail.
Still, critics say clearing encampments can then open homeless people up to harsher penalties.
“This recent TPD-led sweep of these encampments near the Loop are evidence of this, just like the recent efforts the public has recently seen with a number of sweeps at city parks and along washes. I don’t understand how a majority of our local officials fail to see how actively criminalizing people who are unsheltered comes at a cost beyond the booking fee expenses,” Xavi Martinez, of Amphi Liberation Mutual Aid, told Arizona Luminaria.
Trespassing warnings
After an encampment is removed by city workers or local police, officials will often put up a sign saying anyone who returns to the area will be charged with trespassing.
The state statute cited in that case is 13-1502. Under that law, a person who enters or remains on property after a “reasonable request” by a law enforcement officer could be charged with a misdemeanor.
A person can be considered to be trespassing if they are in a place not open to the public, or if they are asked to leave by a property owner or manager and do not do so, according to Tucson Police Department documents.
The Tucson Police Department’s public data domain of arrests was under maintenance on July 12, and requests for recent citations for trespassing were only available through a public records request, said the department.
Letter of Consent
Property owners can give police consent in advance to remove someone on their property without permission using a “Trespass Letter of Consent.”
Normally, police wouldn’t have the authority to go onto private property without the consent of the owner, but the trespass letter allows a police officer to take enforcement action on a property without first contacting the owner.
It can be used for a private home or a business, an explainer about the document says. The TPD document also suggests that property owners post language saying: “”No Trespassing’ per ARS 13-1502.”
Other place-specific enforcement
There are also a number of place-specific enforcement programs that limit what homeless people can do in certain areas, or direct increased enforcement to a specific area.
- Most Tucson parks close at 10 p.m., and park rules say no person is allowed in the park when it is closed. Camping is also prohibited.
- In 2015, the city passed rules detailing when and how a homeless person could keep their belongings on a sidewalk and where they could sleep. Those laws said people could remain in parks until they closed at 10 p.m. and then relocate to sleep on city sidewalks.
- In August 2024, the overlapping jurisdictions of Pima County and Tucson began working together on a night patrol of the Loop bike path. The new patrol effort was prompted by the ongoing incidence of “improper behavior” along the Loop, county officials said.
- In March 2025, Tucson passed an ordinance limiting people from standing in medians where the speed is over 30 miles an hour, with violations to result in community service, fines up to $250 or imprisonment not to exceed 24 hours. Since the ordinance went into effect, 67 people have been cited, TPD told KOLD 13 News. Police also attributed a drop in pedestrian deaths to the ordinance — deaths in this time period were six compared with 17 last year.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
