The Tucson city council voted for a housing and homelessness emergency at their Feb. 3 meeting.
The declaration came after the city closed its public housing waitlists on Jan. 1, claiming it would take them a decade to house all the 40,000 applicants.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said the ordinance will help build more shelter spaces on land where they have been prevented from doing so before.
“This particular ordinance will give all of us the flexibility to create safe sleeping sites, safe parking sites, as well as creating shelter spaces,” she said.
Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz added that the emergency declaration helps to speed up permit requests from a year to a couple months for their non-profit and faith-based partners.
“This declaration is not just a symbolic thing,” she said. “It’s making sure that we are keeping this urgency, coordination and accountability, because too many of our families are one paycheck away from losing their home.”
Council member Miranda Schubert said she received supportive emails from Ward 6, and that neighborhood associations were interested in exploring safe sleeping sites, like STAR Village.
The city-wide emergency period will be in effect for a year.
