When you’re homeless, having a safe place to sleep and to keep your things can be life-changing.
That’s the motivation behind a new proposal being considered at the Tucson City Council that would allow businesses, churches and nonprofit organizations to set up structures in their parking lots for homeless people to spend the night.
This is modeled after programs in Eugene, Oregon, that Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said has had a lot of success in reaching a population that won’t really use shelter services or other resources.
“I think that ultimately this is just a more humane, and in practical terms, a more effective way of getting people kind of out of hidden places throughout our neighborhoods and into some potential community space,” Uhlich said.
Uhlich’s proposal is for a pilot program that would allow for just 10 sites around the city to host up to four individuals or families in micro-housing.
Those sites would need to have connections to homeless case-management organizations, and they would not be able to have drugs, alcohol or weapons at these sites. The goal is to eventually transition these people into permanent housing.
Last week, the Tucson City Council discussed the proposal and raised some questions that they’re going to look into. Uhlich said that she hopes they’ll have a pilot program in place by this summer.
Uhlich spoke more about the proposal with The Show’s Lauren Gilger. You can listen to that interview in the player above.
