In a key test of public attitudes toward homelessness after the Supreme Court greenlit broader camping bans this past summer, Arizona voters approved a measure that will allow property owners to claim tax refunds if their local governments fail to clear out encampments, Vox reports. Proposition 312, which passed this week with 58 percent of the vote, was born from a bitter fight in Phoenix over “The Zone,” an area where more than 1,000 homeless people once camped near the state capitol building. It marks conservatives’ latest effort to push local governments toward tougher and less discretionary enforcement of outdoor homelessness. Its success with voters suggests openness to more aggressive enforcement of public camping as cities grapple with their recently affirmed powers. The measure will create a new system allowing property owners to recoup expenses like security cameras, cleaning services, and protective fencing when cities demonstrate a “pattern or practice” of not enforcing laws against camping, loitering, or public drug use. (To claim the refund, property owners must prove that lax enforcement reduced their property values or led to costs related to addressing public “nuisance” issues.) Those refunds would come directly from money that cities get from the state, effectively penalizing local governments that don’t crack down on encampments. Individuals will be allowed to submit one claim per year, for up to 10 years.
Proponents, led by the conservative Goldwater Institute, promoted the measure as a way to prevent another crisis like “The Zone.” Opponents, however, argue it will divert already scarce resources from shelters, public services, and law enforcement, ultimately diminishing cities’ ability to tackle homelessness on a broader scale. The initiative will take effect as Arizona faces one of the nation’s most severe affordable housing shortages, with some 14,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night. “The voters sent a clear message this election cycle: they demand their tax dollars be used to enforce the law and address rampant homelessness,” Goldwater President and CEO Victor Riches said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Now that Prop 312 is law, business and property owners will not be left holding the bag when municipalities refuse to do their job.” The Arizona measure represents conservatives’ most ambitious attempt yet to remove local discretion from homeless enforcement. While the Supreme Court’s ruling in June cleared the way for more uninhibited camping bans, local officials are still left with significant flexibility over whether and how to clear encampments. The push for non-discretionary enforcement has been gaining momentum. Florida recently enacted a law allowing residents and businesses to sue cities that don’t clear encampments, and Missouri now permits its attorney general to take legal action against local governments that fail to enforce camping bans.
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