Arizona Daily Star Opinion: Tucson Needs a New Approach to Homeless

From The Arizona Daily Star Sunday July 13, 2025

The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

As a first-time candidate for Tucson City Council, I've spent the past eight months talking with residents from every corner of Ward 6.

Nearly all of us express an urgent desire to address our growing homelessness crisis. The effects have spread to our parks, our washes, and our neighborhoods. It has left our most vulnerable without the safety and security they deserve. It is changing how locals and visitors enjoy our city. Tucsonans have a right to clean, safe, and accessible public spaces, including bus stops. Despite annually spending a cumulative total of more than $40,000 per unhoused individual across the state, Tucson continues to experience rising levels of homelessness.

In our most recent Point in Time (PIT) count from January of this year, 2,218 people were experiencing homelessness in our city. This amounts to a 5.5% increase compared to 2024.

Mental illness among the homeless population rose by 25% just last year, and reported substance use disorder rose by 37%. Instead of continuing to push a 'housing- first' approach and expecting this crisis to improve, we need a clear plan with achievable goals. We must borrow proven strategies from cities like Houston, Salt Lake City and San Francisco. These cities and others have, through tremendous effort, all seen a reduction in the number of unhoused in their streets. Their successes can be tailored to fit Tucson's unique circumstances.

Houston successfully reduced its homeless population by over 60% in a decade, not by spending more money, but by spending it more effectively. The City of Houston refers to collaboration in these efforts as its 'special sauce.' In Tucson, we must establish a comprehensive coordinated effort between the City of Tucson, Pima County, non-profits, faith organizations, health providers, mutual aid groups, and the State of Arizona to pool our knowledge, skills, and resources, create attainable goals, and produce and share data. Many of these organizations currently work within silos. Efforts are being duplicated, and money is being wasted.

That has to change.

Once our efforts are unified, we can work toward the following goals: First, we need designated, low-barrier campgrounds throughout the city. These should be organized, secure sites where unhoused people can safely sleep and have access to bathrooms, cooling centers, showers, and other resources.

We must provide these spaces before we begin enforcing camping bans for washes and parks.

Second, we need to expand preventive efforts through programs like rental assistance.

We must find ways to work through our backlog of families who have applied for help already. These efforts should be aimed at families, veterans, and the elderly. We also need to strengthen our diversion programs. That means working with schools, hospitals, and courts to catch people before they end up on the streets.

Third, we need shelters, transitional housing, and permanent housing with supportive services to ensure success. This is particularly essential for people living with mental illness, substance use disorders, or long-term trauma. We should partner with local non-profits, health care providers, and community organizations to manage these projects.

Fourth, we must confront Tucson's housing shortage across all income levels. We need to reform the rezoning and permitting processes to speed up and incentivize the construction of more housing. We must also find creative ways to encourage developers to build both affordable and attainable housing. We should be coordinating with the state Legislature to ensure the continuation of LIHTC and other funding mechanisms for affordable and attainable housing projects.

Finally, we must enforce existing laws. We can no longer allow sidewalks, parks, buses, and public libraries to be indefinitely turned into makeshift camps.

Enforcement can co-exist with compassion. Our police department needs increased funding to hire and retain enough officers to properly maintain safety on our streets.

To achieve our goals, we must track outcomes, tie funding to results, and publish transparent data so the public can follow our progress. City Hall can't achieve results through their efforts alone. By adopting best practices and prioritizing proven strategies from other cities while collaborating with local community partners, we can achieve real progress.

Leighton Rockafellow Jr. is a native Tucsonan, attorney, and candidate for City Council Ward 6.