When we talk about homelessness, we often focus on what we may do to help the individual before us, but homelessness is a systemic issue that should be addressed by the many professionals in our community and our nation backed by our charitable support.
With the Human Services Campus nearby at 12th Avenue and Madison, it is impossible not to have your heartstrings tugged by some of the many individuals who visit our neighborhoods for the safety provided by the likes of such programs as the Central Arizona Shelter Services.
I’ve recognized faces that have been here for at least the four years I have lived downtown and see new ones weekly as I ride the Phoenix Business Circulator DASH bus to my internship. Over these years, I’ve been no saint. I’ve wished the whole group would go away after an individual followed me off the DASH and attempted to grab for my backpack. I’ve also provided $20 to individuals with tear-jerking stories and wondered why the world would be so unfair.
But both of these responses are quite useless in the face of the societal problem that faces us all.
According to the annual Point-in-Time Count homeless street count and shelter count in January, there were 5,700 homeless persons in the Phoenix, Mesa and Maricopa County region. Riann Balch, the deputy human services and family advocacy center director for the city of Phoenix, said at an August discussion group that out of that 5,700, around 30 percent were unsheltered, which represents the people whom you and I most associate with the idea of homelessness.
But in reality, the homeless population is far more diverse than that stereotypical image. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is actually families, said Darlene Newsom, chief executive officer of the United Methodist Outreach Ministries, more commonly known as UMOM.
At UMOM, they are seeing around 52 new homeless families identified every week in Maricopa County. They manage to divert 25 percent of the families that present themselves as homeless. However, there are still 150 families on the UMOM waitlist, and the need and numbers are far greater than what UMOM has the resources to serve, Newsom said at the August discussion group.
That’s why there are people from your local nonprofits all the way up to the federal government dedicated to the goal of ending homelessness.
In May 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession, the federal government passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act calling for a national strategic plan to end homelessness. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, comprised of 13 federal departments and seven other federal agencies, responded with their Opening Doors plan in 2010.
Opening Doors calls for ending homelessness among veterans in 2015, chronic homelessness as a whole in 2017, homelessness for families, youth, and children in 2020, and eventually setting a path to end all types of homelessness.
Now, astute readers will realize that many of these dates have passed or are about to pass, and there still seems to be homeless people. But that in itself is far less the point.
The true goal of these federal efforts is to guide meaningful conversations toward collaboration and evidence-based solutions across the nation.
In Arizona, the Department of Housing primarily administers federally funded programs and receives no state general fund support. Programs supported by state dollars, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families administered by the Department of Economic Security were the victim of cost-saving measures when the State faced a deficit in 2015, and a one-year lifetime limit for impoverished households receiving federal benefits was established.
On a more positive note, local organizations such as UMOM have taken guidance from federal regulations such as those from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a coordinated entry site to combine the work.
Further, local organizations are adopting the concept of housing first, which consists of putting individuals in stable homes and off the streets immediately instead of focusing first on getting them “housing ready” by addressing issues such as medical and mental health. Housing first leads to 85 to 90 percent of individuals not returning to the streets, according to research cited by David Smith, the communications manager for the Central Arizona Shelter Services.
Nationally, the cost to society to support a mentally ill homeless individual is between $40,000 and $50,000 outside of services, while that same individual in permanent supportive housing costs between $12,000 and $15,000, says Smith. Such cost disparities are also highlighted in a 2008 Morrison Institute for Public Policy report titled “Richard’s Reality: The Costs of Chronic Homelessness in Context,” proving that the public choices we make may have a tremendous impact not only on the lives of these individuals but also on the financial health of our government.
So if you really want to help, volunteer with a local nonprofit, vote in the November election, and if you really have a need for immediate help, call 2-1-1 and help link our fellow citizens to the resources that will best help them.
Contact the columnist at raboyd2@asu.edu.
