Arizona Cities Will Pay a Price for Ignoring Homelessness

Residents can apply for property-tax refunds when officials refuse to enforce public-nuisance laws

By Victor Riches. He is president and CEO of the Goldwater Institute. Excerpts:

"City officials in Phoenix, Arizona’s largest city, have spent years shunting the homeless population into a downtown area that infamously became known as “the Zone.” The city reportedly instructed police officers to leave the Zone alone—not to enforce the law there. As a result it became one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments. For years it has been a chaotic den of panhandling, violent crime and destruction.

Property values plummeted in the Zone. Small businesses suffered. People lost their livelihoods as dozens of business owners had no choice but to close up shop. And even as the city spent over $180 million to address the crisis (only a fraction of which is publicly accounted for), the number of homeless people in Phoenix rose 92% between 2018 and 2023."

"In California . . . The refusal of district attorneys to prosecute crimes allowed lawbreakers to roam free, unhindered by the fear of punishment. Meanwhile, residents struggle under high taxes and crushing regulations. In fact, California has spent $24 billion on its homelessness crisis over the past five years only to see the homeless population increase by about 20%."

"Over the summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down what the Journal called a “judge-made right to vagrancy,” ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson that it isn’t unconstitutional for cities to enforce laws against public camping. Cities across the country now have no excuse not to clean up their streets."