Arizona Prop. 312 passed. But it 'does absolutely nothing' to reduce homelessness, advocate says

Arizona voters have passed Proposition 312, which gives property owners a way to recoup some of the costs of cleaning up certain nuisances if their local government doesn’t.

The measure allows people to seek property tax refunds if they incur expenses because local governments failed to enforce laws against illegal camping, loitering or panhandling.

But an advocacy group that works to end homelessness is concerned it won’t have the effect voters intended.

Arizona Housing Coalition Executive Director Nicole Newhouse said property taxes are mostly used to fund things like schools, libraries and fire departments.

“So while it wouldn’t reduce necessarily the dollars they have to combat homelessness, because those funding streams come largely through federal grants, it does reduce the amount of money that they have to serve their communities," Newhouse said. "So in practice, this is kind of a punitive measure.”

She said lawmakers instead should work with cities and towns to come up with more effective solutions to combat homelessness.

“[Proposition 312] is yet another piece of legislation that’s been passed that attempts to say to the public that something’s being done in terms of reducing the amount of homeless we all see every day as we’re driving down the street, but it actually does absolutely nothing," she said.