The Maricopa County Human Services Department is rolling out a new plan to support the homeless population in Phoenix and throughout the Valley, based on similar plans implemented across the country and in Europe.
Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-Housing are two programs backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that will fill the gap left by two soon-to-be vacant facilities.
On a tour for community members on Monday, David Bridge, the managing director of the county’s Human Services Campus, explained the new housing systems that are being implemented as two sections of the 12-acre campus prepare to close.
The Central Arizona Shelter Services Men’s Overflow Shelter and its adjacent parking lot, which together provide safety to hundreds every night, are the two sections set to close early next year. The overflow shelter will close by March 31 because of safety concerns, and the parking lot is likely to be closed sometime in July.
The new plans for homeless clientele on the Human Services Campus did not receive a full explanation when the news about the overflow shelter was announced, which is part of the reason Bridge invited community members to tour the campus and learn more about the programs.
The benchmarks set for the new housing program aim to minimize strain on the homeless community when the overflow shelter closes next year.
“The overflow is inhumane, and it’s not a viable building,” Bridge said. The building was deemed unsafe by the Fire Marshall and cannot hygienically house hundreds of men.
Though up to 250 people stay in the overflow shelter every night, beds are given on a first-come, first-served basis, and some may sleep on the campus without engaging in the services offered there. The campus includes a 450-bed main shelter, dental and primary medical care, and employment resources, including an organization which helps clients procure ID documents that have been lost or destroyed. It also hosts the nation’s only homeless post office.
The east parking lot is filled with homeless people every night, but there is no intake screening or record of who stays there. One caseworker and two security guards are on duty in the lot, a ratio that does little to serve the campus’s clientele. The staff who oversee the east lot can only prevent conflict or help the unstable rather than direct individuals to resources.
The agencies on the Human Services Campus, which include Central Arizona Shelter Services, Lodestar Day Resource Center and St. Vincent de Paul, are implementing two programs that aim to serve the diverse homeless population through specific assessment and treatment of needs.
Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-Housing prioritize homeless people’s needs and meet them individually, rather than using blanket strategies that don’t offer continuity of care.
The coupled programs act as “housing-first” strategies with wraparound services. Most homeless people are only without shelter for a short time, and need minimal employment or health services, so resources like those on the Human Services Campus are a perfect match, Bridge said.
However, for the 15 percent of homeless people who are considered “chronically homeless,” or suffer disabling conditions that render them homeless for an extensive time period, support services are a crucial part of finally escaping life on the street, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website
Permanent Supportive Housing is affordable housing with built-in care services and “navigators” who act as caseworkers for those in the program. If housing residents suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, they won’t be removed from housing, but their navigators will intervene instead.
If chronically homeless people don’t have consistent access to shelter, they’re more likely to use drugs or fall victim to crime on the street, Bridge said. By providing a housing-first approach, the Human Services Campus seeks to streamline its services and make every agency more effective.
In tandem, Rapid Re-Housing will provide short-term financial assistance for families to move into housing quickly and ensure they remain housed. This prevents separation as families are sent to different shelters, and is less taxing on human services’ resources than varying outreach from multiple agencies.
The new programs are already in action thanks to $400,000 of funding. According to Bridge, 35 people have been placed in housing in the first three weeks of the program. Retention rates for the two strategies fall between 80 and 90 percent.
As the closing dates for the overflow shelter and east lot approach, those at Maricopa County Human Services will aim for higher and higher housing goals.
Advocates for the homeless have been encouraging similar programs. Jon Linton, activist and founder of I Have a Name, is one of them.
“There’s only one answer for homelessness: to find homes for these people,” Linton said.
Linton photographs and interviews the homeless in order to learn their stories, in an effort to humanize their struggles. Linton has produced a video and held a show at {9} The Gallery last December showcasing his work for I Have a Name.
When the shelter closing was announced, some in the community initially worried new programs wouldn’t be implemented successfully, leading to dangerous conditions for the homeless and strain on the neighborhoods surrounding the campus, Linton said.
“In my experience with doing interviews … the most difficult thing about being homeless, people say, is finding a safe place to sleep at night,” Linton said. “That safe place in Phoenix is going to be gone.”
Though Linton was not able to attend Monday’s program at the campus, his concerns reflect other voices in the community.
The new housing program would be much safer than the shelter and parking lot, which have limited human resources, Bridge said during Monday’s information session. Regionalizing the housing, as the Human Services Department intends to do, would decrease the strain on downtown Phoenix and on individuals, as the homeless in need could be closer to their communities in other parts of the Valley.
MaryAnn Eldon organizes the Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner in Phoenix and toured the Human Services Campus because the group’s organizers believe it would be an excellent place for a potluck. The group holds monthly meals at public places around Phoenix to promote sustainable sharing and encourage residents to interact.
“It’s the crossing of two different populations that don’t meet very often, except on the street,” Eldon said.
After hearing Bridge explain the campus resources as well as the new housing plan, Eldon said the system seems like a workable plan, and that the centralized location of services has an especially helpful impact on the city.
As long as there are enough caseworkers to meet the housing programs’ needs, everything should go smoothly, Eldon said. Currently, client to caseworker ratios in human services approach 50 to 1.
Eldon said she believes holding a community dinner with the population at the Human Services Campus would have a tremendous impact on the downtown community.
“I think it would help people understand the changes, and what they can do to support the homeless population and help move forward,” Eldon said.
Contact the reporter at hjhayes@asu.edu
