News

Federal Funding for Immigration Services Is Ending

Pima County Board of Supervisors
Meeting date: February 20, 2024

Agenda Items Approved:

Appeal of Pima Affordable Housing Awards/Funding of 8 Projects (agenda item #36 a & b)

SWNPHC, awarded GAP funds in 2023, submitted and was not awarded funding in the 2nd round of funding.  The decision was appealed but reviewed and denied by the Director of Economics Development. They then appealed to the Pima Board of Supervisors.
Discussion on the scoring and review process and the possibility of adding $2.2 million to affordable housing funding budget.  This could be used to fund 5 more submitted projects and / or fully fund two projects that were granted partial funds.

Board decisions:  Request additional costs and budget information from staff to support discussion to increase funding at the next meeting.  Denied appeal – 4 to 1 (Supervisor Heinz voted no).  Approved awards of 8 recommended projects – 4 to 1 (Supervisor Christy voted no).

31-page document with project information, scoring and appeal information at:  https://pima.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12660391&GUID=0B80D613-8442-4D48-944A-8E36E43267E3

Other Meeting Highlights: 

Update on Legal Asylum Seeker Support (addendum 2 item 1)

Federal immigration funding is ending.  The county is beginning to wind down support with a full stop on March 31st.  
Currently about 1,000 legal asylum seekers are being released by the border patrol in Tucson each day. About half are bused in from Cochise and Santa Cruz counties.  The current level of support costs exceeds 1 million a week.  
Casa Alitas has been supporting legal asylum seekers since 2014.  City and County support began in 2019.  Casa Alitas will continue to support but at a much-reduced number.  Possibly 100 a day, which leaves 400 individuals a day to be street released in Tucson. Unsheltered release will begin April 1st.   
County staff looked at minimal support of shelter and security, and estimated cost at 1 million a month.  

The Board requested staff to draft a letter letting partners know what impact will be.  
28-page memo from Lesher on problem and options at:  https://pima.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12672110&GUID=F7D58D22-FE62-4B68-8A5F-F2CA9E40D6E3

Blue Ribbon Commission on County Jail Final Report (Agenda item #11)

The 10-member volunteer commission met for the last 10 months to study and make recommendations in the following 3 areas:

Current jail conditions
Best Practices – Standards for Physical and Operation of jail
Funding options

Access the 19 page County Staff Summary of 270 page commission report at: https://pima.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12660397&GUID=45AFA30A-7CB1-4C6D-98B7-D85C54FFA1CB

Summary of 4 Staff Recommendations:

Contract a 3rd party consultant to determine jail improvements needed, develop a master plan and access costs.
Increase funding in 2025-2026 budget to enhance the availability of dental, medical and behavior health services.
Establish a new commission.
Create a financial working group to investigate funding sources.

The board requested more information on the 3rd party consultant contract and costs - funding options from staff.  Continued to the March 5th meeting.

Link to Website: https://www.pima.gov/2529/Board-of-Supervisors-Agenda-Schedule
Observer: Lynn Blankinship