Tucson is again considering an ordinance to ban camping in washes — adding to the city’s existing measures that restrict where unhoused people can sleep, including parks and other public spaces.
Almost one year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in a case called City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities could arrest and criminally charge unhoused people for sleeping in public, regardless of whether they had anywhere else to go.
Since then, the city of Tucson has been grappling with how it would police homelessness. City council weighed and rejected multiple efforts to restrict camping in washes. At the same time, the city has cleared both Santa Rita Park and 100-Acre Wood Bike Park, both areas where dozens of people were camping…