Tucson City Council to vote next week to ban camping in washes

The Tucson City Council is set to vote next Wednesday on an ordinance that would make it illegal to camp in city washes and watercourses.

In a memo to councilmembers, City Manager Tim Thomure cited “significant dangers” associated with sleeping in washes, especially during the summer months, when monsoon rains often lead to flash floods and extreme heat can cause brush fires.

“Given the unpredictable nature of desert weather, a prohibition on camping in washes is recommended as a means of preventing loss of life and property,” Thomure wrote.

The city said first responders regularly face challenges providing aid to people who may be in these “challenging environments.” The landscapes of the washes make people hard to see and at times difficult to access, Thomure said.

The ordinance also mentions the environmental impact of encampments, which leave behind human waste and drug debris, disrupting “the delicate balance of riparian ecosystems.”

During the summer months, washes serve as popular camping spots for people experiencing homelessness, offering one of the few outdoor locations that provide privacy and relief from triple-digit temperatures.

Last year, Tucson police and the city’s Housing First program began clearing homeless encampments that they deemed to pose significant risks to occupants, the public, or government workers. Officials identified flash floods as one of the most pressing dangers.

Housing First Director Brandi Champion told the Sentinel last June that in preparation for the summer monsoons, the city was focusing their efforts on camps in washes to avoid any deaths from flooding.

This June, a 27-year-old woman died after she was swept up in the Rillito River during a flash flood caused by a summer storm.

Champion said part of the Housing First protocol is to offer outreach and shelter placement to unhoused people living in the camps before clearing begins, though occupants don’t always accept, sometimes due to the shelter’s admission stipulations, which can require entrants to leave behind a partner or animal, or to refrain from using drugs.

Liz Casey, an organizer with Community Care Tucson, a local mutual aid project, said the group was “appalled” by the city’s effort to criminalize sleeping in washes.

“This decision, along with closing off parks, implementing hostile architecture and sweeping camps is not only extremely dangerous for the unhoused community but is totally nonsensical,” Casey said. “It will only result in the worsening of social issues and perpetuate the cycles of homelessness.”

The city defines “camping” as setting up any kind of temporary shelter, bedding, stove or fire pit for the purpose of maintaining a temporary place to live. If the Council votes to pass the ordinance at the Sept. 25 meeting, violations will result in a misdemeanor.