⛺ Blue Politics, Brutal Policies: Tucson Democrats Criminalize Survival as Homelessness Hits Record Highs

With 2,218 people homeless and nowhere to go, City Council votes to make seeking shade illegal

Jun 30, 2025

😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾

Tucson has a serious problem: more than 2,200 people don't have homes to live in 🏠❌, and that number keeps growing every year 📈. Instead of building more affordable housing 🏗️ or helping people find homes, the city's Democratic leaders decided to make it illegal 🚫 for homeless people to sleep in the desert washes (dry riverbeds) 🌵🏞️ where many were staying to escape the dangerous Arizona heat ☀️🔥.

Now, if someone without a home tries to sleep in a wash, they can be fined $250 💵 or even go to jail for up to 10 days 🚓🚪. This is happening in a city run entirely by Democrats who promised to help people 🤦‍♂️. Many community members are fighting back ✊, saying it's cruel to punish people for being poor and homeless. The real problem is that there aren't enough affordable homes for everyone 🏘️, but instead of fixing that, politicians are making it a crime to be homeless 🚨.

🗝️ Takeaways

🔢 2,218 people experienced homelessness in Pima County in January 2025—a 5.5% increase representing total Democratic policy failure
📈 Homelessness has surged 60% since 2018 under continuous Democratic leadership, exposing progressive rhetoric as corporate-friendly facade
⚖️ New wash ordinance criminalizes survival with fines up to $250 and jail time, following Supreme Court's cruel Grants Pass ruling
🏠 Despite claiming shelter capacity exists, barriers and sweeps make safe housing inaccessible to those most in need
🎯 Racial disparities persist with Black and Indigenous populations disproportionately impacted by both homelessness and criminalization
💰 Proposition 312 serves as flimsy excuse for preemptive cruelty, as property tax threat represents less than 2.5% of city revenue
🌡️ Criminalizing wash camping removes crucial climate adaptation strategy during life-threatening desert heat waves

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The Cruelty Is The Point: How Tucson's Democratic Machine Criminalizes Poverty While Homelessness Surges

In the heart of Sonoran Desert borderlands, where ancient saguaros stand as silent witnesses to countless migrations and struggles for survival, another kind of displacement is happening. But this time, it's not driven by climate change or cartel violence—it's orchestrated by the very Democratic politicians who campaigned on compasión and justice.

Welcome to Tucson, Arizona, where progressive rhetoric meets punitive reality, and where the assault on our hermanos y hermanas sin hogar continues under the banner of blue politics.

The Numbers Don't Lie: Homelessness Is Growing

The recently released 2025 Point-in-Time Count data from the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness reveals the stark reality our local Democratic leaders would rather you ignore: 2,218 people were experiencing homelessness in Pima County on a single night in January 2025—a 5.5% increase from the previous year.

But let's dig deeper into these numbers, ¿no?

While the Arizona Luminaria reported that over 400 volunteers participated in this year's count—the most comprehensive yet, including Catalina and Ajo for the first time—what they found should shame every elected official claiming to represent working-class Tucsonenses.

Here's the breakdown that should make Mayor Regina Romero and her Democratic council squirm:

Total homeless population: 2,218 people
Unsheltered individuals: Approximately 1,500 people living completely without shelter
Sheltered individuals: Around 700 people in emergency shelters and transitional housing
Families experiencing homelessness: 82 families, including 142 adults and 130 children

¡Dios mío! These aren't just statistics—these are our neighbors, our raza, our fellow human beings trying to survive in a city that has chosen criminalization over compassion.

The Historical Context: Five Years of Democratic Failure

To understand the magnitude of this crisis, we need to look back. According to Tucson Sentinel, Pima County's homeless population has increased by 60% since 2018—from just 1,380 people experiencing homelessness to today's staggering numbers.

Let that sink in: under continuous Democratic leadership at the city level, homelessness has exploded by more than half. This isn't some Republican governor's fault or Trump's immigration policies—this is homegrown Democratic complicity in the housing crisis.

The data shows a particularly troubling trend:

While Democratic politicians congratulate themselves for marginal increases in shelter capacity, the number of completely unsheltered individuals has remained stubbornly high, around 1,500 people with nowhere to go but the desert washes, parks, and street corners of our supposedly progressive city.

Enter the Wash Ban: Criminalizing Survival

As if rising homelessness numbers weren't damning enough evidence of Democratic failure, Tucson's Democratic-controlled City Council recently passed what can only be described as a ley cruel—an ordinance banning camping in washes.

On June 18, 2025, the City Council voted to make sleeping in washes illegal, with violations resulting in:

Community service
Fines up to $250
Imprisonment up to 10 days
Probation up to one year

Kevin Dahl was the lone vote against this cruel ordinance in the final 5-1 vote.

¿En serio?

Let's be crystal clear about what this means: Tucson Democrats are literally criminalizing the act of seeking shelter when you have nowhere else to go. They're threatening to cage people whose only crime is poverty, while simultaneously failing to provide adequate housing or shelter space.

The ordinance's language follows the Supreme Court's City of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, which essentially gave municipalities the green light to arrest and criminally charge unhoused people for sleeping in public, regardless of whether shelter space exists.

Our Democratic leaders eagerly embraced this conservative court's permission to punish poverty.

The Proposition 312 Excuse: Following Corporate Money

City officials claim this ordinance is necessary to avoid liability under Proposition 312, a 2024 state ballot measure that allows property owners to seek tax refunds if they believe their city isn't enforcing laws against "public nuisances." This measure, crafted by the free-market Goldwater Institute, is a gift to property developers and business owners who want to use the state to force cities to criminalize homelessness.

But here's the thing: Tucson only collected $16.9 million in property taxes in FY 2023/2024—less than 2.5% of the city's total revenue. The financial "threat" from Prop 312 is minimal compared to the human cost of criminalizing survival.

Yet our Democratic leaders chose to preemptively bow to corporate pressure rather than fight for the most vulnerable members of our community.

¡Qué vergüenza!

The Cruel Mathematics of Democratic Hypocrisy

Let's do some basic math that apparently escapes our Democratic leadership:

Estimated unsheltered population: ~1,500 people
Available emergency shelter beds: According to TPCH data, approximately 1,800 full-year available beds for adults
The gap: While shelter capacity technically exists, the reality is more complex

But here's where Democratic rhetoric meets capitalist reality: many of these shelter beds come with barriers that make them inaccessible to people struggling with mental health issues, substance use disorders, or those who don't fit into rigid institutional frameworks.

As Dr. Susan Hadley from COPE Community Services told Arizona Luminaria, "The biggest challenge for us is the police sweeps. We want to go where the homeless are... but unsheltered people are more dispersed now."

The sweeps Dr. Hadley references are another tool in the Democratic administration's arsenal of cruel policies. Between October 2022 and April 2025, the city created 5,021 cases related to encampments—a bureaucratic way of saying they've systematically harassed and displaced thousands of our most vulnerable compañeros.

The Human Cost of Democratic Cruelty

Behind every statistic is a story of survival. Eric Sutton, who spent five years as a wildland firefighter, told Arizona Luminaria that washes were "the closest place Sutton has had to a steady home since he was young." When asked about the wash ban, he said, "All they're doing is shuffling homeless people around. You can't go anywhere else."

Priscilla Martinez, who sometimes stays with friends but understands the desperation of those living in washes, warned: "It might not be much to you or me, but to them, that's all they have. It's going to make people hostile."

This is the human reality our Democratic leaders ignore: they're not solving homelessness, they're criminalizing it. They're not providing housing, they're providing handcuffs.

The Broader Pattern: Democrats as Capitalism's Enforcers

Tucson's assault on unhoused people fits into a broader pattern of Democratic politicians serving as the friendly face of capitalist cruelty. While Republicans openly embrace their role as servants to corporate power, Democrats perfect the art of progressive rhetoric masking regressive policies.

Consider the timeline:

2020: Mayor Regina Romero and Democrats swept into power promising progressive change
2018-2025: Homelessness increased by 60% under Democratic leadership
2025: Democrats criminalize survival with wash ban

This isn't aberrant behavior—it's the logical outcome of a political party that has abandoned any pretense of challenging the economic systems that create poverty and homelessness in the first place.

The Indigenous and Racial Justice Lens

The 2025 Point-in-Time Count data reveals persistent racial disparities that should alarm anyone claiming to care about justice. According to TPCH, "Black and Indigenous populations continue to be disproportionately impacted by homelessness in our community."

Here in the ancestral lands of the Tohono O'odham Nation, where Indigenous peoples have been systematically displaced through centuries of colonization, our Democratic leaders continue policies that disproportionately criminalize Indigenous bodies.

The wash ban isn't just cruel—it's a continuation of the colonial project of displacing Indigenous peoples from the land.

For our hermanos in the Black community, already facing disproportionate policing and incarceration, the wash ban represents another tool of criminalization disguised as public policy.

Environmental Justice and Climate Reality

There's bitter irony in Democrats claiming to care about climate change while criminalizing people forced to seek shelter from extreme heat. Tucson regularly experiences temperatures exceeding 110°F during summer months, making outdoor survival not just difficult but potentially fatal.

The washes that our Democratic leaders now want to criminalize aren't just convenient camping spots—they're often the only places providing shade and slightly cooler microclimates during deadly heat waves. By banning wash camping, Democrats are literally criminalizing climate adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable.

The Corporate Capture of Democratic Leadership

Let's be honest about what drives these policies: it's not public safety or environmental protection—it's the demands of downtown business interests, tourism operators, and property developers who view unhoused people as bad for business.

The timing of Tucson's wash ban, as Arizona Luminaria noted, coincides with increased pressure from groups like the Hedrick Acres neighborhood association, which successfully sued the city over a homeless encampment. These lawsuits represent the weaponization of the legal system by property owners against the poor.

Mayor Romero and the Democratic council aren't responding to humanitarian concerns—they're responding to the political and economic pressure of their donor class and the property-owning voters who elect them.

What Real Solutions Look Like

While our Democratic leaders focus on criminalization, real solutions to homelessness exist and have been proven effective in other cities:

Housing First Approaches: Cities like Houston have dramatically reduced homelessness by providing immediate permanent housing without preconditions, recognizing that stable housing enables people to address other challenges like mental health and substance use.
Decriminalization: Cities that have decriminalized homelessness and redirected resources from policing to services have seen better outcomes for both unhoused individuals and the broader community.
Addressing Root Causes: The primary driver of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. Real solutions require massive public investment in social housing, rent control, and limits on speculation.
Harm Reduction: Providing basic services like public restrooms, water stations, and safe camping areas recognizes the humanity of unhoused people while working toward long-term solutions.

Instead, Tucson's Democrats have chosen the path of least resistance: criminalizing poverty while maintaining the economic systems that create it.

The Progressive Resistance: Hope in Dark Times

Despite the cruelty of our Democratic leadership, Tucsonenses are organizing resistance. Groups like Community on Wheels, the Tucson Tenants Union, and the People's Defense Initiative have filed lawsuits challenging sweeps and advocating for the rights of unhoused people.

Victoria DeVasto of Community on Wheels challenged Mayor Romero directly, asking why people at Santa Rita Park weren't accepting city services. The answer, obvious to anyone paying attention, is that people don't trust a system that simultaneously offers help with one hand while holding handcuffs with the other.

Advocates like Amina Tollin of Unhoused Neighbors have called the wash ban "an act of aggression against our houseless communities," correctly identifying it as what it is: state violence against the poor.

Moving Forward: What We Can Do

The fight for housing justice and against the criminalization of poverty requires sustained organizing beyond electoral politics. Here's how we can build resistance:

Support Direct Service Organizations: Groups like COPE Community Services, which operates mobile health clinics for unhoused people, provide essential services while advocating for systemic change.
Join Tenant Organizing: The Tucson Tenants Union fights for rent control and tenant rights, addressing root causes of housing insecurity.
Participate in Mutual Aid: Community on Wheels and similar groups provide immediate material support while building alternative models of care.
Pressure Elected Officials: While we can't rely on Democrats to do the right thing voluntarily, sustained pressure can force policy changes.
Support Indigenous Land Rights: Recognizing that we're on stolen Indigenous land means supporting Indigenous-led movements for land back and sovereignty.

Conclusion: The Choice Before Us

Tucson's Democratic leadership has made their choice: they've chosen to serve capital over community, donors over the displaced, profit over people. The wash ban is just the latest example of how Democrats function as the kinder, gentler face of capitalist brutality.

But we have choices too.

We can continue to accept the false choice between Republican openly and Democratic covertly criminalizing poverty. Or we can build movements that center the humanity and rights of our most vulnerable community members.

The washes of Tucson have sheltered people for generations—Indigenous peoples seeking seasonal resources, migrants crossing borders, and now unhoused individuals seeking survival. The Democratic assault on wash camping is part of a longer history of displacing the vulnerable to serve the powerful.

But just as the desert blooms after rare rains, hope persists even in the harshest conditions. Our unhoused hermanos y hermanas are not just surviving—they're exposing the contradictions of a system that produces both obscene wealth and devastating poverty.

Their resistance is our resistance. Their liberation is our liberation.

¡La lucha sigue!

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What's your experience with homelessness policies in Tucson? Have you witnessed the impact of sweeps or the wash ban in your neighborhood? Share your thoughts in the comments below.