Could city parks be used to offer aid services to Tucson’s homeless population and in doing so lessen ongoing tensions between housed neighbors and homeless communities?
Tucson’s city council could consider that question next week during a discussion on the city’s permit process for providing food and drinks in public parks.
That conversation, set to take place at the Nov. 7 city council study session, was requested by council members Karin Uhlich and Lane Santa Cruz. Both have been vocal about the tensions around homelessness in their communities, as well as the needs of unhoused people, and say the city should consider new approaches.
“Folks have been questioning whether it might make more sense to have aid offered in the parks so that pantries and service efforts that are nestled within the neighborhoods don’t get overwhelmed,” Uhlich told Arizona Luminaria.
Council member Santa Cruz told Arizona Luminaria in an email statement that they hoped to understand the effectiveness of the park permit ordinance as it stands now, and “share input on the challenges faced by those trying to meet the needs of our unhoused neighbors — particularly from church and mutual aid groups.”
How to get involved
- Learn more about mutual aid groups
- Attend the city council study session at 12:30 p.m. or the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Both meetings take place at City Hall at 255 W. Alameda St.
- Watch the meeting online
- Email your city council representative
- See the city’s plan to address homelessness at the Housing First webpage
- Learn more about the city’s protocol and tool for reporting homeless encampments
The discussion comes a little over a month after the city council first introduced, then withdrew, an ordinance that would have banned camping in washes in September.
It also comes several months after a Supreme Court case, called City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, shifted the environment for how cities could police homelessness this summer. That court ruled that cities may legally arrest and criminally charge unhoused people for sleeping in public, regardless of whether they had anywhere else to go.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover and Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Adelita Grijalva both came out against the decision when it was announced, with a press release saying the ruling “falsely suggests that we can arrest our way out of chronic homelessness, substance use disorders, or mental illness.”
Mutual aid groups in Tucson opposed the wash ordinance. In the case of the park permit discussion, they appreciate the effort to have the conversation, but are wary of solutions that may separate homeless communities from their housed neighbors.
“We are absolutely appreciative of any attempts to make mutual aid easier and to give people life-saving supplies,” said Liz Casey with Community Care Tucson, which runs a food and clothing distribution every Wednesday night at Armory Park. “We do not want the dichotomy of just serving unhoused people where they are away from other neighbors. These folks are still part of our community.”
Casey said she wants to see more mobile showers, mobile bathrooms and overdose prevention stations that she says will help address some of the immediate needs of unhoused communities.
Uhlich says she doesn’t want to shy away from the difficult conversations about how to both support unhoused communities and respond to aggrieved or concerned housed residents. “I think it’s important for us to talk it through very publicly and transparently,” she said.
“We know we have hundreds and hundreds of homeless people in the city and we have to recognize that they need to sleep somewhere. They need to be somewhere and they can’t always access indoor space, and so given that, we ought to think through where are the safest and best locations for everybody.”
In Pima County, the most recent point-in-time count — which is run around the nation to count how many people are without shelter at a specific point — counted 2,102 people living in shelter, transitional housing, or living without shelter on Jan. 23, 2024. The next count will take place in January 2025.
As Tucson nears this discussion, there has been an ongoing dispute between a local church that owns Amphi Park over unsheltered people gathering there. At the state level, a ballot measure up for consideration in this upcoming election would allow property owners to claim a tax refund for costs they’ve incurred from people camping, using drugs or using the restroom in public.
Casey from Community Care wondered how the city would square ongoing enforcement efforts targeted at large encampments in city parks with weighing parks as a place to provide aid.
Uhlich said she hoped the discussion would address exactly that. “The question is exactly why we need to have the discussion — what are the parameters, what does enforcement look like and can we have some consistency across the city?”
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