Uncertainty over the future of a Phoenix homeless overflow shelter has raised concerns about the potential increase of loitering and panhandling in the downtown area.
Funding to the St. Vincent de Paul Human Services Campus overflow shelter may discontinue after February. When the shelter closes, it will send 250 people into the street at night. According to David Smith of Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), the amount of panhandling is expected to rise.
Originally scheduled to close this fall, the overflow shelter received an extension from Maricopa County in August, but the number of beds available is limited and the lack of space left people on the streets. When there are no beds in the shelter for them, the only thing law enforcement can do is arrest an individual, which costs more than getting the individual help, and according to Smith, they end up back on the street the next day.
“There’s no law against being homeless… We have to co-habitate,” Community Action Officer Jeff Howell said.
According to Howell, if it’s public property, they are welcome to hang out. If a homeless individual breaks the law, they are subject to the same treatment as any other member of the public would be.
The potential for arrest is not the only problem downtown’s homeless population faces.
Homeless people often face the misconception that everyone who is homeless has mental illness or a substance abuse problem, according to Smith. Smith said many times, people face homelessness as the result of a large financial crisis that sends people into the streets. The longer someone is homeless, the less likely it is they recover.
Rewarding panhandling could be contributing to the problem, Smith said.
“Giving people on the street money may help an individual with a meal, but at the end of the day it enables them to stay on the street,” said Smith.
In downtown Phoenix, there is a panhandling problem, but there isn’t a shortage of food, Smith said. Other areas of the valley have limited resources, but there are two food halls on the human resources campus that CASS is located on. St. Vincent de Paul serves breakfast and lunch five days a week and André House serves dinner six nights a week.
There are other resources available to those who enroll in programs like CASS, and Smith encourages members of the public to steer away from rewarding panhandling. Connecting the homeless with resources, like CASS, is preferable because it creates plans for a long-term solution.
As far as the panhandling problem goes, Albuquerque, New Mexico has recently had a lot of success with their “There’s a Better Way” program, Smith said. The program offers jobs beautifying the city to the homeless in the area and pays nine dollars an hour. When workers return from the job site, they pick up their pay and are connected with other resources as needed.
“We need to have multiple plans and multiple solutions, because there isn’t one path to homelessness,” Smith said.
“The national goal is to end chronic homelessness by 2017,” said Rian Balch, human resources program coordinator for Phoenix. “It’s about having enough resources, and a system that works, so that when someone becomes homeless, we can deal with it right away.”
Contact the reporter at Absande2@asu.edu.
