Climate Resilience, Housing Justice, and a Desert City Rebuilt Around Equity

Regina Romero leads Tucson with a governing philosophy shaped by migration, farm work, and the borderlands. The youngest of six children and daughter of Mexican immigrant farmworkers, she grew up in Somerton, Arizona, became the first in her family to vote, and the first to graduate from college.

Romero spent more than a decade on the Tucson City Council before winning the 2019 mayoral race, becoming the cityʼs first woman and first Latina mayor, and the first Latino mayor since the 1870s. Her campaigns have consistently framed Tucson as a working familyʼs city: focused on safer streets, better roads, and climate resilience that actually lowers household costs. Early in her tenure, she moved quickly to declare a climate emergency and set a goal of carbon neutrality for city operations by 2030, linking climate work to economic development and public health rather than treating it as a stand-alone agenda.

On housing, Romero has used federal and local tools to push beyond pilot projects and into structural change. Her administrationʼs Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson helped position the city to win a highly competitive $11.5 million HUD PRICE grant, aimed at preserving manufactured housing, rehabilitating aging units, and providing legal and eviction-prevention support for some of Tucsonʼs most vulnerable residents. That work sits alongside new affordable developments, low-barrier shelter beds, and targeted investments in neighborhoods like Thrive in the 05, where housing policy is tied to anti-displacement, workforce, and safety initiatives.

Climate and resilience are where Romero has put Tucson on the national and international map. Through the “Tucson Resilient Togetherˮ climate action plan, the city has adopted ambitious targets, from carbon neutrality timelines to zero-waste goals, backed by American Rescue Plan funding and a detailed implementation roadmap. Under her leadership, Tucson has expanded zero-fare public transit, invested in water-security projects, and planted toward a goal of one million trees, while joining networks like Climate Mayors and C40 to bring local experience to global conversations on adaptation and decarbonization.

Regionally, Romero has cast Tucson as both a climate-resilient desert city and an emerging tech and logistics hub. She has highlighted rapid growth in tech jobs, backed smart-city investments in mobility, cybersecurity, and renewable energy, and deepened collaboration with the University of Arizona, Startup Tucson, and local employers to position the city for the next wave of innovation.

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