Sahuarita, AZ Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

010 to include using public property as a temporary or permanent living accommodation, evidenced by things like burning a fire, cooking, storing belongings, laying down bedding, or setting up a tent, even briefly. 'Public property' covers schools, parks, playgrounds, streets, sidewalks, rights-of-way, washes, bike paths, trails, transit stops and any other town-controlled land open to the public. 020 then bars camping on that property unless the area is specifically authorized for it or the person has obtained a town camping permit. The chapter carves out an exception for temporary shelters set up by a government agency or relief workers during a declared disaster or emergency.

020(E) bars police from enforcing the camping prohibition at all when no 'shelter space with homeless supportive services,' meaning an overnight shelter offering at least one free service such as a bed, food, or a shower, exists within 50 miles of the town limits, a direct nod to the constitutional limits courts have placed on criminalizing sleeping outdoors when no shelter is available. Subsection D states the chapter is not intended to criminalize homelessness or an individual's status rather than conduct. 030, punishable according to state law, and the chapter was adopted by Ordinance 2021-156.