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Tucson and Pima County hold joint session to align homelessness, addiction and justice responses
Summary
City and county officials presented joint plans and funding for homelessness, opioid response and justice‑system reforms, including expanded transition‑center services, investments in MAT in the jail, gap‑funding for housing, data‑sharing proposals, and a proposed pilot to link justice‑involved people to shelter and on‑site treatment.
On Nov. 18 mayoral and county leaders convened a joint meeting to focus on unsheltered homelessness, affordable housing shortages and the public‑health crisis of opioid and fentanyl use.
Deputy County Administrator Steve Holmes described county investments in ‘‘gap funding’’ for affordable housing developers, a $10 million‑a‑year eviction‑prevention program, and rental‑assistance and wraparound programs (including a Craycroft location) intended to move people to stable housing. Holmes and other county staff outlined justice‑system initiatives: a pretrial/prebooking module, a transition center adjacent to the jail that provides warm handoffs to services, a warrant‑resolution effort and a STEPS diversion program. Holmes noted limits in statute on involuntary stabilization for substance use under Title 36 and referred to SB 1257 as an unsuccessfully pursued amendment at the state level.
City staff briefed the joint body on the Safe City initiative, emphasizing coordinated outreach, care‑coordinator navigation, multidisciplinary teams that pair health providers with outreach staff, and recent encampment decommissioning efforts that connected dozens of people to shelter. Both jurisdictions flagged gaps in treatment capacity, authorization delays for residential care, transportation and language access, and the need for better cross‑system data sharing. The county described a ‘‘1 Pima’’ plan adopted by its board to accelerate loop cleanups, expand transition and safer center operations, and pilot a coordinated shelter capacity system that would reduce barriers (pets, storage) and expand low‑barrier options.
Several supervisors and councilmembers praised the collaboration and asked staff to produce recommendations through four working groups (repeat offenders; data sharing; partnerships with state behavioral‑health systems and nonprofits; and pilot programs for justice‑involved substance‑use cases). The joint teams said they would return with recommended actions in December.
Why it matters: both elected bodies emphasized the regionality of the challenge and signaled funding pathways (opioid settlement dollars, general‑fund investments) and concrete pilots that could change how justice, housing and health services are coordinated in Pima County.
