Valley reader: Tolerating street camping isn’t compassionate

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OPINION — Arizona can be free without being careless. It starts with public order. In 2025, Maricopa County counted 9,734 people experiencing homelessness, about half unsheltered.

When leaders tolerate permanent street camping, they are not being compassionate. They are exporting the cost to working families, seniors and small businesses.

Public space belongs to the public. Sidewalks, parks, washes and transit stops are not long-term camps.

This is not anti-help. It is pro-standards. The humane answer is shelter, treatment and structure, paired with consistent enforcement so public spaces stay public.

Three actions:

1. End street camping as the default and enforce the line consistently.

2. Expand shelter and treatment, including structured intervention for people who cannot stabilize.

3. Publish a monthly scoreboard: removals, placements, repeat hotspots and crimes tied to those hotspots.

If officials refuse measurable outcomes, they are managing the problem, not solving it.

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