Tucson Standard

Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik proposed controlled encampments to deal with the homeless crisis in the city and reduce crime, according to KGUN9.

"The reality is we are seeing numbers of homelessness that we haven’t seen in the past," he said.

Kozachik noted that homeless camps have popped up in various places around the city, but setting up encampments away from residential areas could be a good solution.

“If we set up the controlled encampment, we know where to find the people, we can send service providers, and not chase them from alley to alley,” he said.

Though the majority of the city council is against the idea, Kozachik will continue to push for the encampments, KGUN9 reported.

"I think the rest of the council simply does not like the optics, and they believe allowing an encampment to exist constitutes a failure," he said. "I have a different perspective. Squeezing the balloon and moving people around from camp to camp, week to week is the failure."

Some homeowners around Tucson have complained about crime coming from the homeless camps that border their neighborhoods, KGUN9 reported.

"My neighbor got burglarized when he was out of town," Tucson resident Tom Mannell said. "I was burglarized when I renovated this house. I believe there are many other areas of Tucson where they could be setting up camp where they would not be disturbing neighbors by being in such close proximity."