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

Mayor and Council enacted the wash-camping ban through Ordinance No. 4 to the code. 1 explain the purpose: the city's washes primarily manage stormwater flow and protect against flood and erosion, while also serving as open space and wildlife corridors, and camping in them obstructs drainage, damages riparian habitat, and is frequently accompanied by cooking and heating fires. 2(a) then states the operative rule, camping in a publicly-owned wash without the city's prior written approval is prohibited and is a violation of the section. 4 defines the key terms precisely: 'camping' is setting up or remaining in or at a campsite; a 'campsite' is any place where tents, shade structures, boxes, furniture, mattresses, or other material are used to establish or maintain a temporary place to live, or where a stove or fire is placed for that purpose; and 'wash' covers any watercourse with beds, banks, sides and channels through which water currently or formerly flowed, including all washes mapped by the City Engineer under § 26-3 and any culvert or drainage improvement located within a wash.

1(b), the development and floodplain ordinances, the ban on driving vehicles into washes, and the ban on dumping waste in washes, as part of a coordinated scheme to keep the drainage system clear and safe, particularly during monsoon flood events when first responders may need to reach anyone camped in a channel.