Pima County’s first sobering facility will remain operating for another two years, following an additional $2.2 million in opioid settlement funds approved by supervisors this week.
The Sobering Alternative for Recovery Center (SAFR) provides people with substance use disorders a safe place to come down from the effects of alcohol or drugs. It also serves as a diversion program, allowing law enforcement and paramedics to drop people off at the 24-hour center instead of at the jail.
It opened in January after county supervisors approved an initial $1.8 million in opioid settlement money to fund it. SAFR is a key part of the One Pima Initiative, the county’s long-term plan for addressing public safety concerns, housing, and expanding treatment and recovery it adopted in late 2025.
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In its first three months, 138 people received SAFR services, and 96% of patients left with referrals, according to an analysis commissioned by the University of Arizona. However, it was struggling with staffing issues and data collection that help track where patients were coming from and where they go after discharge.
SAFR is now nearly fully staffed, but data collection still remains a challenge, said Deputy County Administrator Steve Holmes at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“We still need better data to give an analysis to this board and to the ROSAC to make a determination whether this is working or not,” he said.
The goal is to be a conduit into other services such as behavioral health treatment, rehabilitation centers, or housing. Referrals have increased since the initial three-month report, Holmes said, but did not have specific data at the meeting.
Supervisor Andrés Cano called the center a “critical public safety component” at Tuesday’s meeting. About half of the patients served in the program’s first three months were referred from the Tucson Police Department and the city’s Community Safety, Health and Wellness Program.
Even with the extended contract, the program is still considered a pilot program, and at risk of losing funding if the county can’t prove to the Regional Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, the governing body for opioid settlement funds, that it is achieving its goals.
Holmes said more time will allow for better data reporting.
“We believe part of this extension that we're bringing forward is to really give us more time to actually look at the data,” he said.
