An old Tucson fire station will become a shelter for 100 in the Amphi neighborhood

An old fire station in the Amphi neighborhood will become a new shelter and assistance hub for unhoused people, the only housing-first effort in the neighborhood.

The endeavor is part of the city’s Housing First Program, which aims to address homelessness by prioritizing getting people sheltered and providing them additional support and services.

On June 18 the Tucson city council passed a zoning plan for the project at 250 W. King Road, which will repurpose the old Fire Station Eight building into the new Housing First Resource Center. The project received overwhelming support from housing advocates and community members.

It will be a first in the neighborhood, said Ann Chanecka, the city’s Housing and Community Development department director, during the meeting.

“It’s the only Housing First project in the Amphi area, and we know there’s a significant unhoused population in that area,” she said.

The 100 beds are a start to help solve the shortage of shelter in Tucson and Pima County.

There are approximately 1,000 shelter beds in the county but, according to a 2023 report by the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness, approximately 1,300 shelter beds are still needed to meet demand.

The fire station conversion isn’t the only shelter project underway in Tucson, according to Jason Thorpe, deputy director of Housing and Community Development.

Over the next 18 months, in addition to the fire station, two other sites will open adding another 150 beds including a 100 bed shelter at the former Adult Recovery Center and a “50 bed transitional housing project at the site of the former EconoLodge on Speedway and Stone,” according to Thorpe.

Part of the department’s work, Chanecka said, has been engaging with the community to gather feedback and address concerns. Through that process, they received 26 comments from members of the community, with 19 in favor and seven opposed to the project.

While there was ample support among the greater community, she said many of those in the direct vicinity of the fire station were wary.

“There were concerns about safety and security today, with people on the street, loitering in the alleys,” Chanecka said. As a result, staff have been working with the community and have already made commitments to address those concerns.

These measures include having 24/7 on-site security, a six-foot fence to enclose the property and a 10-foot setback that will not contain housing structures.

The property will also serve as the site for a pilot program to explore micro-shelter options.

According to the department’s memo , “The redesigned fire station will include a congregate shelter and a day-use center. The rear of the property (north of the fire station building) will incorporate a Village Housing Model, with up to 35 non-congregate micro-shelter structures that have electricity, air conditioning, and heat. The site will have bathroom facilities, showers, laundry machines, and storage for personal belongings and will be pet-friendly.”

The project has multiple funding sources, including a $975,000 Community Project Funding award from the federal government.

Although the mayor and council ultimately approved the project, the city’s zoning examiner had recommended against approval, saying “the proposed density exceeds the density recommended in the North Stone Neighborhood Plan.”

Chanecka said her department disagrees with that determination, partly because the examiner evaluated the plan as a site for residential use rather than its actual purpose as a shelter. And the city doesn’t have clear-cut directives on zoning for shelter properties that are smaller than 1.5 acres.

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