Community expresses outrage as Phoenix moves to limit aid distribution in public parks

Wednesday’s Phoenix City Council 6-3 vote in favor of the Safe Medical Treatment in Parks Ordinance (G-7467) landed a tough blow to the long-standing fight led by members of the community, non-profit healthcare providers and District 7 Councilwoman Anna Hernandez. 

This amended ordinance — which initially passed in December and targeted harm reduction programs in public parks — prohibits providers from distributing necessary medical care and food in city-owned parks, an action that critics call inhumane, cruel and dangerous for those experiencing homelessness. 

“As policymakers, part of our job is to look at policy that addresses the root causes of the issues that all of our community is facing. And I say that as someone that knows the cost when policy is not built to address the root cause of the issue. That is not the type of leader that I want to be and that is not the type of city that I want to be in leadership of,” Hernandez said at the press conference she held alongside healthcare providers and humanitarian non-profits on Monday.

According to the Maricopa Association of Governments’s (MAG) 2024 homeless trends report, for every 10 people finding housing in Maricopa County, there were 19 people experiencing homelessness. Amid rising inflation and the increased cost of living that’s led to almost 84,000 evictions in the county over the last year — according to a report from Eviction Lab — residents are only one medical emergency or missed paycheck away from being in a similar predicament. 

Supporters of the ordinance and council members who voted in favor of it cited the need to keep clean public parks free from exposure to needles and the clutter that comes with homeless encampments.

However, many of those needles are provided through harm reduction programs like Shot In The Dark, Sonoran Prevention Works and RIOT that help maintain safe distributions for unhoused people battling addiction. The lack of access to clean supplies for drug use can lead to the spread of bloodborne diseases, experts say.

“Needle exchanges have immense benefits to both users and our community as a whole. Needle exchange decreases rates of HIV and hepatitis C infections by approximately 50%, without increasing drug use,” Brian Toy, co-chair of Shot In The Dark, said during Monday’s press conference. “People who use the needle exchange program were followed for over one year and found to be three times more likely to reduce or stop injecting drugs than those who didn’t. And five times more likely to enter drug treatment.”

Despite the evidence-based programs and outspoken advocacy groups objecting the amended ordinance, after over seven hours of debate, questioning and dozens of public comments heard during Wednesday’s meeting, the ordinance passed. 

Hernandez and District 4 Councilwoman Laura Pastor voted against the ordinance. District 2 Councilman Jim Waring also voted against the measure but he cited wanting to limit services entirely, instead of offering limited permits as the ordinance allows.

Community members against the ordinance have deemed it yet another manufactured policy to criminalize homelessness while failing to actually address the root issues causing people to become unhoused. This ordinance tacks on to G-7264, an ordinance that went into effect in September of 2024 that prohibits camping within a 500-foot boundary near schools, child care facilities, shelters and city parks.

“It’s, unfortunately, a part of a national trend that we see these days of policymakers rejecting evidence-based and data-driven policy solutions, and reverting to fear-based, reactionary, expensive measures, like the ones that forced us to clear “The Zone” that led to this problem in the first place,” Will Knight, an attorney with the National Homelessness Law Center, said during Hernandez’s press conference, referencing the 15-block stretch of encampments in downtown Phoenix that was forcefully cleared following a 2023 court order that displaced the over 1,000 people living there.

Many critics of the ordinance pointed out that the necessary permit policy— which limits organizations and people to two permits per month for food and medical distribution — is policing humanitarian aid and hinders the freedoms of various communities that utilize public parks. This includes churches that partake in feeding the hungry by way of religious expression, aid groups that provide medical care through outreach programs and everyday community members not a part of any secular group that take time out of their days to give basic necessities to those in need.

“This ordinance is not a valid time, place and manner restriction because it cruelly singles out humanitarian and charitable aid for criminalization, does not meet the needs of many of our community members and it raises serious constitutional concerns,” Harrison Redmond, a lobbyist speaking on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona, said on Wednesday. “This remains an issue of basic dignity and human care. Practically speaking, the human beings that this ordinance would displace have nowhere equivalent to go. Redirecting and limiting aid groups outreach doesn’t manage any park problem that has been addressed to this council. It simply, and cruelly, eliminates a lifeline.” 

With summer approaching and record heat already setting in across the Valley, people experiencing homelessness that find refuge at public parks will begin to feel the effects of this policy. 

While critics call this cruel, two-thirds of the Phoenix City Council found it to be “necessary” to cease these activities in their parks, citing constituents pushing to keep out unhoused people from parks entirely. 

The ordinance is set to take effect on June 5.

Analisa Valdez (she/her) is a freelance journalist based in Phoenix. Her reporting includes community & culture, social justice, arts, business, and politics.