In the stretches of Tucson's 100-Acre Wood Bike Park, a unique community has been thriving in what has become the city's largest homeless encampment. Here, amidst the dusty trails and sparse trees, people like Chris Sanchez have transformed patches of land into makeshift homes. Sanchez, who has been residing in this encampment for about a year, crafted a living space complete with a bedroom, living room, and a game room, where he indulges in his passion for chess daily, according to a report by ABC15.

Life took a downturn for Sanchez after his car broke down, rendering him jobless. "Things just kind of went sour for me, you know," Sanchez said in a statement obtained by ABC15. Tucson plans to clear out part of the park, labeled 'Zone 1', for PFAS testing in the groundwater and to make improvements to the BMX trails. The future for Sanchez and others in the 100-Acre Wood now hangs in the balance, with no clear timeline for the displacement or the subsequent testing.

David Sebastian, another resident of the 100-Acre Wood, faces a similar predicament. Having lost his RV, Sebastian now calls the park his home and is concerned about where the displaced residents will go once the area is cleared. "They want to just pull us all out of here," Sebastian told KGUN 9. This sentiment echoes a broader uncertainty and underlines a recurring pattern: the displacement of the homeless, with the root issues remaining unaddressed.

The city has attempted outreach with offers of housing, detox, and other resources, but has seen minimal engagement with these solutions. "Unfortunately the engagement with those resources hasn’t been as high," said Mari Vasquez, a Pima County and the City of Tucson resource coordinator, in an interview with ABC15. Still, as the city forges ahead with its plans, the inhabitants of the 100-Acre Wood are left to worry about their impending reality with no definite answer to the question of where they will find their next refuge.