CITY RUSHING SHELTERS INTO NEIGHBORHOODS - TCFC EMAIL CALL TO ACTION - PLEASE SEND TODAY!
EMAIL CALL TO ACTION
TUCSON RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES
SUBMIT YOUR PUBLIC COMMENT TODAY
The City of Tucson is considering significant changes to its zoning rules for homeless shelters and outdoor sleeping areas.
If you share our concerns about these proposed changes, please take a few minutes today to send the letter below to the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and Planning & Development Services.
The City is gathering public feedback right now, and that feedback will be used in developing the proposed zoning amendment before it moves forward in the approval process. Tucson.gov
READ THE DETAILS
Read the latest Tucson Crime Free Coalition newsletter:
STEP 1: COPY THESE EMAIL ADDRESSES
Copy and paste the following into the “To” field of your email:
Mayor.Romero@tucsonaz.gov, cit
STEP 2: COPY AND PASTE THIS LETTER
Subject: Opposition to Proposed Shelter Care Zoning Changes
Mayor and Council,
I am writing to oppose the proposed changes to Tucson's zoning rules for homeless shelters and outdoor sleeping areas.
Homelessness is a serious problem, and people need help. But Tucson has struggled with homelessness for years. This problem did not suddenly begin when the City declared a Housing and Homelessness Emergency in February 2026. The City confirms that the emergency declaration occurred on February 3, 2026. Tucson.gov
I do not believe an emergency declaration should be used to rush permanent changes to our zoning laws or avoid the normal public process. Emergency powers should not become a shortcut around good government.
The City is considering changes to where shelter care facilities can operate and to the zoning requirements that apply to them. These are significant decisions that could affect neighborhoods and businesses throughout Tucson. Tucson.gov
Permanent zoning decisions deserve careful review, public notice, and meaningful input from the people who live and work nearby. An emergency declaration should not be grounds for making haphazard permanent changes to rules that may be difficult to reverse later.
I am asking the City to slow this process down, follow the normal public-review process, and require appropriate safeguards before making permanent changes to Tucson's zoning code.
I oppose:
- Expanding shelters and outdoor sleeping areas without adequate safeguards.
- Reducing parking and other requirements without showing why those changes are necessary.
- Streamlining approvals in ways that reduce neighborhood involvement.
- Using an emergency declaration to justify permanent zoning changes without the normal level of public review.
Please include my comments in the official public record regarding the Shelter Care Zoning Code Amendment.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL TODAY
It takes only a few minutes. Add your name, hit send, and make sure your voice is part of the public record.
Tucson Crime Free Coalition
Keep up the pressure on local politicians. Their “solutions” are an insult to City residents who pay taxes that include the politicians’ paychecks. TCFC has offered real solutions to the City regarding the occupation of public parks and around businesses by the “unhoused” and how to help address these complex issues. Are they considered? The local politicians don’t seem to understand or care.
I sent the email to everyone listed and if the city leaders insist on proceeding, perhaps they can place homeless shelters in their neighborhoods to start! This shouldn’t be too difficult since the free busing could be utilized to transport!
Thanks for always keeping up to date on what these crazy people in office are doing. They need to be voted out as soon as possible to save Tucson
My letter:
I am writing to oppose the proposed changes to Tucson’s zoning rules for homeless shelters and outdoor sleeping areas.
I am a neighbor near the Star Village project, which began last year. Neither my neighbors nor I received any advance notice, and our input was not solicited. The only public meeting was one where we were lectured for an hour.
Furthermore, this area already deals with the adverse effects of homelessness. We don’t want our difficulties spread throughout the city, especially in such a rushed manner that ignores public input.
Homeless shelter camps are not the only change this mayor and council are considering. They are also pushing through substantial zoning code changes that are designed to push traffic and parking into our neighborhoods; put public processes into the backrooms of PDSD; and make it even harder for residents and property owners to have a voice. But this should come as no surprise – just look at what the city did with our General Plan.
They ignored the state’s statutory requirements for General Plans, deliberately leaving out the requirement that a General Plan must include a section on Neighborhood Preservation and Revitalization. A.R.S 9-461.05
https://www.azleg.gov/viewdocument/?docName=https://www.azleg.gov/ars/9/00461-05.htm
11. A neighborhood preservation and revitalization element, including:
(a) A component that identifies city programs that promote home ownership, that provide assistance for improving the appearance of neighborhoods and that promote maintenance of both commercial and residential buildings in neighborhoods.
(b) A component that identifies city programs that provide for the safety and security of neighborhoods.
Instead, they made our General Plan all about equity, which is not a requirement for General Plans. So while the members of Tucson For All, our local YIMBY group, lecture us in their condescending way about why we should have homeless camps in our neighborhoods, or tell us that we must have greater density to stop sprawl, they failed to notice that the city did include one required element in our General Plan. That element is about the Southlands, raw land on the far east side, which our mayor and council are now discussing. This is sprawl on steroids.
If you want to see things change, the time has come to throw these bums out. Support viable candidates, ones who believe that our existing neighborhoods, and residents, have value; ones who believe we all deserve to have a say – not just the young, inexperienced citizens who have told some of us to move into assisted living (even though we are perfectly independent) so they can move into our homes, which they expect us to sell to them for pennies on the dollar. (Maybe this explains why the mayor and council are pushing for code changes that will deliberately degrade our neighborhoods.)
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