Local opinion: Don’t bypass communities when building solutions

On Aug. 6, the day after the primary election, Council Member Dahl sent a cursory email to me and to other neighborhood officers in Sugar Hill, El Cortez, Keeling, and Bronx Park. His message? That Mayor and Council would be discussing a pilot project in Executive Session: “a safe sleeping site for up to 25 unsheltered women and gender non-conforming individuals who need a safe, secure place to rest.”

At least Dahl’s email offered vague assurances of community engagement “before the site opens” on Oct. 1. But two weeks later, when I asked Ward 3 staff about Star Village at the Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association meeting, the very neighborhood where the pilot was to launch, they had no details to share with us. I guess the City was comfortable moving forward with only a press release and a half-hearted email for a first-of-its-kind homeless encampment.

What’s ironic is that on Sept. 9, the Mayor and Council voted in support of “Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) Reform & Transparency City Wide.” That’s a nice gesture, but in the case of Star Village, the Mayor and Council didn’t need an NDA to withhold information from the public.

Let’s be real, the “listening session” scheduled for Sept. 17 at the Donna R. Liggins Center should have happened months ago. If the Mayor and Council want Star Village to succeed, they should start over, work with the community to review the city’s surplus properties, and choose a site that has real support and viability. They should guarantee resources and protections for the surrounding neighborhoods wherever the pilot is located. They should give trusted mutual aid groups like Community on Wheels, Amphi Liberation and Mutual Aid, and Community Care Tucson a seat at the table. And most importantly, they should maintain meaningful stakeholder involvement throughout the lifecycle of the project, so that Star Village will be managed in a way that can truly provide a path forward for those who need it.

If the City is serious about helping the unhoused, they can start with common-sense steps like not closing down Santa Rita, Jacobs, and Armory Park in the summer. Our green infrastructure that offers critically needed shade should not be fenced in during the hottest months of the year. And instead of blocking mutual aid groups from serving food, water, and supplies to those in need, the City should be supporting their efforts and leveraging the trust that they’ve built to get people to accept the resources that are available. These are immediate, no-cost actions that would ease suffering while longer-term solutions are developed in collaboration with the community.

The neighborhoods and businesses of 85705 deserved a real say in the decision-making process for Star Village. I support new approaches to housing, but our community should not be treated as expendable or used as a testing ground for projects too controversial to place elsewhere. Before moving forward, there needed to be meaningful engagement with residents and businesses, especially since so many low-income housing developments have already been concentrated in Ward 3. True solutions require every Ward to share responsibility and invest in housing. My community deserves transparency, accountability, and genuine cooperation from the leaders elected to serve us.

Let me be clear: I wholeheartedly support the original intention of Star Village, because the need is urgent, complex, and requires diverse approaches. Providing our unhoused neighbors with a safe place to sleep is important, but what they truly need is lasting access to housing, healthcare, and job opportunities, not just a tent and a locker off of Grant Road. What I find unacceptable is that the pilot was planned in secret in a way that dismisses the surrounding community that I call home and treats “community engagement” as little more than lip service. I may not have won the opportunity to represent Ward 3 officially, but I will not stand idly by when my community is discounted. I will continue to fight for transparency, accessibility, and community-led solutions by any means necessary, and I will work with anyone who is committed to building them with us.