Housing Insecurity

The City of Tucson is working to provide stronger services in support of their Housing First strategy -- first offer unsheltered people shelter and THEN wrap services around them. The City of Tucson has a new cross-agency unit under the leadership of Mari Vasquez working to coordinate response.

There are two ways to report an encampment:

• go to the Reporting Tool website (https://reportencampments.tucsonaz.gov/) 

• call the City of Tucson Resource Line: (520) 791-2540

The City then does a site assessment using the following model:

Tier 1 – trash and clutter, but no residents: assign to environmental services to clean up

Tier 2 – residents, but self-governed, and not causing havoc to surroundings: send outreach and set up schedule to clean up and monitor

Tier 3 – encampment with criminal issues, health, or safety concerns: remove encampment

It is not illegal for individuals to camp in public places. If they are breaking the law, however, and if you have concerns for their safety or your own safety (fighting, illegal activities), then you should call 911 for incidents. Calls like "not fighting but acting erratically" can activate the City mobile response unit rather than enforcement. Know that issues like fighting are considered a Level 3 police priority and response may not be immediate.

One other thing to consider when you report an encampment is that you need to make sure to select the specific location of the encampment, else it gets defaulted to your home location and it becomes hard to track multiple issues at a site. And if you have made a report on a given site already, use the same number as the initial report made. You may share any report with info@broadmoorbroadwayvillage.com so that the Association can monitor issues emerging as well. Please, USE THE REPORTING TOOL!

Please also visit the City's Community Safety, Health & Wellness Program site for vauable information. The program functions as an umbrella for coordination with special problem-solving teams across multiple city departments. These teams specialize in meeting the needs of the community members experiencing behavioral health crises and houselessness. They note that "with awareness that our community is safest when we have the tools to reduce and prevent crises, we are working to ensure that the City of Tucson has the appropriate responses to prevent crises related to substance use, mental illness, and extreme poverty."