The City of Phoenix’s “Your Voice: 2020-25 Consolidated Plan” is a campaign that is meant to involve the community with the next Consolidated Plan, and the city has received more community interest this year than it did five years ago.
This year was the best year yet. In 2015, only 500 Phoenix residents filled out a survey detailing their concerns. This year, there were 2,000 survey entries.
For two weeks in November, the City of Phoenix held engagement sessions for community members to learn more about the 2020-25 Consolidated Plan across Phoenix, and the first session was held at Burton Barr Central Library in downtown Phoenix.
The city is receiving about $130 million in federal grants to distribute over four programs: the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the HOME investment partnership, Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA), and the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG).
According to the City of Phoenix website, the city partners with the community every five years “to develop a strategic Consolidated Plan” and define strategies for address these projects.
The CDBG program has the potential to have a substantial impact on the Phoenix community. It will utilize more than half of the federal funds received and can be applied not only to housing for low-to-moderate income individuals but also to public services like childcare, health care and education programs and to improving public facilities like playgrounds and buildings for those with special needs.
The Home investment partnership, a program dedicated to creating housing opportunities for low-income households, will help build 35 new units in Rosewood Court Apartment facility on N. 16th Avenue.
Tamra Ingersoll, a City of Phoenix spokesperson, said that key factors like low-income housing and homelessness are on the radar of residents this year and that these sentiments weren’t heard nearly as much during the 2015 plan.
According to a presentation designed for the Your Voice plan and posted on the city’s website, there’s been a 17% increase in Phoenix’s unsheltered homeless population from 2018.
The presentation also includes that almost half of Phoenix’s population is “housing-cost burdened.”
Victor Diaz, a student at Arizona State University, said it saddens him to see homeless people sleeping on benches and sidewalks whenever he’s walking around Phoenix or Tempe. He said that he is encouraged that the issue is coming more to the forefront, especially when it comes to financial resources.
The funds for the plan are determined by a slew of factors including population size, poverty levels, and other data related to Phoenix demographics.
This is why, according to Ingersoll, it is important for Phoenix citizens to participate in next year’s census.
“The information gathered by our population and socio-economics determines the response,” Ingersoll said.
The more citizens participate in the census, the more funding the city can receive from the federal government.
The more citizens engage with opportunities like the Your Voice Plan, according to Ingersoll, makes it likely that the city can obtain more accurate and thorough samplings and assure that citizens needs are well-represented.
The city plans to submit the consolidated plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this upcoming May.
Contact the reporter at jklein11@asu.edu.
