Camping in city-owned washes in Tucson is now banned, under an ordinance passed by the City Council.
Violating the ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 days in jail, a $250 fine, a year of probation and community service.
The ordinance was prompted by Proposition 312, the voter-approved measure that allows property owners to get a property tax rebate if a local jurisdiction fails to enforce things like loitering, illegal camping or drug use. It was approved 5-1, with Councilman Kevin Dahl being the sole no vote.
A campsite like this one in a concrete drainage pipe near West 21st Street and South Osborne Avenue, are now prohibited in Tucson. Violating the ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by jail time and fines.
But if the new ordinance “becomes the basis of successful claims for tax reimbursement” under Prop 312, the city attorney is required to notify the council “so that the governing body can consider appropriate modifications,” the ordinance reads.
Tuesday’s action was a redo. In March, the council failed to pass the ordinance due to a tie vote. At the time, council members Lane Santa Cruz, Paul Cunningham and Dahl voted against it. Santa Cruz was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting. Also in the March vote, former council member Richard Fimbres, who was attending the meeting online, didn’t vote. He later resigned and was replaced by Rocque Perez.
Homeless camps, like this one under the West 22nd Street Bridge over the Downtown Airport Wash, are now banned in Tucson under an ordinance approved Tuesday by the city council.
“Though I was appointed, I do feel a clear mandate from Ward 5 to support this measure. Not as a rejection of unhoused individuals, but out of a belief that no one should live in a wash or park,” said Perez. “We have a responsibility to encourage use of the available resources.”
Cunningham had originally voted against the ordinance in March, and at that time said he was concerned that the city lacked the resources to find a place a better place for people living in washes.
“This has been a very challenging issue. The challenges really come down to the delineation of all the folks that we have that are engaged in services, folks that need to be engaged in services, the folks that probably don’t want to,” said Cunningham, before supporting the measure on Tuesday. “This is not an easy task, but the safety concerns among the feedback, and the feedback and the insistence are heard very well.”
The ordinance passed Tuesday night had been put on the council’s agenda numerous times since February 2024. Consideration was initially paused to await the outcome of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In June last year, the Supreme Court, in a split decision, ruled that laws banning camping on public property do not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Although the camping prohibition failed to pass in March, the council at the time did approve an amendment to an ordinance that originally barred people from soliciting in traffic medians. In April, Tucson police began enforcing the removal of people loitering on medians.
