TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN9) — As 27-year-old Zackery Stalbird looked for a place to spend the night and put down his things, he looked back on the past 2 weeks.
Just a few weeks ago he moved to Tucson from Hawaii and got kicked out of his dad’s house, leaving him houseless.
He settled at an encampment at Santa Rita Park, living with fellow houseless people, some of which have tents.
“As humans we are naturally drawn in into groups in a gathering,” Stalbird said.
He got his hammock stolen, leaving him to sleep on the concrete floor.
“The cops tell us to tear down the tent or whatever and it’s kind of hard sometimes,” he said.
City and county officials banning people from living in tents could be a reality soon. Senator Justine Wadsack, who represents the Tucson area, introduced Senate Bill 1413, which would ban houseless encampments within 24 hours.
It would also allow counties and cities to take people’s property if the encampment isn’t taken down within 24 hours. The owner can pick up their property within 2 weeks but after that it would be thrown away.
The bill would also find houseless people guilty of trespassing on private property.
The bill did pass one of the committees but still needs to go through several steps. After that it would have to go to Governor Hobbs to sign into law.
Stalbird said if passed, it would hold him back.
“It’s going to make it even 10 times harder to do a change, to change their lifestyle because then they have to start all over again,” he said.
Houseless woman Holly Hughes walked back to her room at the Wildcat Inn on Friday thinking back to when her own mother lived in an encampment.
“People feel like there’s not other resources to gain the access of housing,” she said.
She said the encampment took a toll on her mom’s mental health because she lived with PTSD.
“A lot of people decide to trash or just be domestic in multiple ways,” Hughes said.
Her mother also used to be a meth user and that’s why she said encampments can also promote drugs.
Her mother now lives in a van and trailer, but she said her uncle died at encampment because of a drug situation.
“Someone drugged him with fentanyl and they found that out that they poisoned his food,” Hughes said.
Wadsack’s bill would charge houseless people for illegal drugs if they are found at the encampment.
As she thought back to her family’s experiences, Hughes said lawmakers shouldn’t be banning encampments.
“If people’s go to is to just stay wherever they are, they have the right to that,” Hughes said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
