In response to concerns he shares with his constituents, Arizona State Rep. Matt Gress sent a letter to Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega regarding the city’s recent vote approving the acceptance of a $940,000 state grant to house homeless individuals and foreign nationals in a McCormick Ranch area hotel.
At its June 27 meeting, the Scottsdale City Council voted 6-1 to accept the grant funding from the Arizona Department of Housing and rent 10 rooms at an undisclosed hotel located near Pima and Indian Bend for use as an emergency homeless shelter.
In a tweet after the vote, Scottsdale City Councilman Barry Graham wrote:
“Last night, council voted to accept nearly $1 million from AZ Department of Housing on condition to house homeless from Phoenix and border migrants—not Scottsdale homeless.
The city will rent hotel rooms in McCormick Ranch-area.
I voted ‘no’ based on responses to my questions about vetting participants and community safety.
Gress raised his own questions in his letter to Ortega such as “what public input process did the City of Scottsdale use ahead of accepting this grant” and whether or not the City conducted “any meeting with the McCormick Ranch Homeowners Association?” (Read the entire letter below).
Gress pointed out that little is publicly known about the terms of the agreement, and referenced media reports that suggested at least some of the people to be housed at the Scottsdale hotel will include occupants from “the zone” – a massive homeless encampment in downtown Phoenix – as well as foreign nationals that would have been expelled from the United States under Title 42, which President Biden allowed to expire in May.
“The City of Scottsdale’s plan raises as many questions as it does concerns,” said Gress in a press release. “While we can agree on the importance of addressing homelessness, doing so requires a transparent and well-communicated plan, and this fails on both counts. Scottsdale residents and business owners should be provided clear and complete details relating to the arrangement approved by city leaders and the long-term intent of their plan. I’ve reached out to Mayor Ortega for answers to many of the questions our shared constituents have regarding the city’s community outreach on this matter, how the program will be implemented, and issues relating to potential impacts. The city is seeking to move forward quickly so I look forward to a timely response.”
Gress requested the city respond by July 28.
Scottsdale was one of many cities that joined together to kill an effort by Republican lawmakers this year to eliminate the very rental taxes that have played a part in forcing the elderly and young families out of their homes and onto the streets. The lawmakers had hoped an elimination of the tax would ease the burden on those living on fixed incomes and who are struggling with inflation.
Gress letter to Ortega:
Honorable David Ortega Mayor of Scottsdale
3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Scottsdale, Arizona 85251
Dear Mayor Ortega,
I am writing to express my concern and that of many Scottsdale residents who have contacted my office regarding a $940,000 grant from the Arizona Department of Housing to move unhoused persons into an undisclosed hotel near Pima Road and Indian Bend Road.1
According to media reports, the City of Scottsdale will rent 10 rooms from the undisclosed hotel, and at least three of those rooms must be occupied by people living in “the zone” which is essentially a massive encampment of unsheltered people in downtown Phoenix.2 Additionally, the resolution notes that likely recipients of this expanded bridge housing program will be foreign nationals that would have otherwise been expelled from the country under Title 42, which expired in May 2023.
In total, the city estimates between 80 and 120 individuals will be served through this program annually. The current contract will go through September 2023 and then will be re-evaluated for a one-year extension, that includes an expansion of services and presumably more rooms.
To be clear, this program proposes to use a hotel in a very different way. We are talking about emergency housing, which is not the same as an establishment that provides for payment temporary lodging in the form of overnight accommodations in guest rooms to transient patrons.
And there is widespread evidence that this kind of program has rarely been implemented effectively.3 I have several questions regarding this arrangement:
Community Outreach
1. What public input process did the City of Scottsdale use ahead of accepting this grant?
2. Did the City of Scottsdale conduct any meeting with the McCormick Ranch Homeowners Association? If so, what did that communication look like?
3. What public notice will be provided to hotel guests or potential guests not participating in the program?
4. Why is the City of Scottsdale being forced to house individuals experiencing homelessness in Phoenix? Shouldn’t this program be helping those who are located within Scottsdale exclusively?
Program Implementation
1. What kinds of mental health and social services will be offered at the hotel to individuals participating in this program? Does the city plan to provide any harm reduction services? If so, could you detail what those services entail?
2. Does the city intend to provide program participants personal grooming services, sanitary and cleaning supplies, meals, and laundry services for clothes and linens?
3. Will 24-hour-security services be part of this program?
4. What is the maximum number of rooms the City of Scottsdale intends to rent from the hotel? If the City of Scottsdale sought to increase the maximum number of rooms, what would that process entail?
5. What is the maximum length of stay the program will permit participants to stay at the hotel? What is the expected average length of stay? What is the average length of stay of current patrons?
6. What is the maximum daily rate the City of Scottsdale will pay the hotel to reserve rooms?
7. Does the City intend to pay for rooms that aren’t occupied or only when they are in use by program participants?
8. Does the City of Scottsdale intend to conduct background checks or any type of screening on all program participants? If so, what does that entail? Are there certain persons depending on their background check that would be excluded from participation in the program? If not, why is the City of Scottsdale not concerned about knowing such information?
9. Between 2020 and 2021, at least 166 people fatally overdosed in city-funded hotels in San Francisco, representing 14% of all city overdose deaths despite representing 1% of the population.4 If a program participant is addicted to drugs, what mitigation measures will the City of Scottsdale implement to ensure that the participant is not using on premise and that drug dealers aren’t making deliveries of drugs at the hotel?
10. Where will the belongings of program participants be stored during their stay at the hotel?
Hotel Impact
1. What is the zoning designation for the hotel the City of Scottsdale intends to use? Why does this program not present a conflict to the current zoning designation given that it materially changes the normal intended use of this hotel?
2. To what extent has the City of Scottsdale discussed the specific impact of housing homeless individuals on the hotel’s business and capital plans (i.e., there has been extensive documentation of similar programs resulting in significant capital costs to repair furniture, fixtures, and equipment inside guest rooms occupied by homeless individuals, along with a hotel’s loss in transient business, especially during peak travel season)?
3. To what extent can the hotel seek damages from the City of Scottsdale for their property from program participants?
4. To what extent has the hotel evaluated the program’s implications on the underlying mortgage of the hotel, given that if the hotel loses its primary intended purpose, the mortgage lender could withdraw financing?
5. Has the City of Scottsdale reviewed the hotel’s current insurance policy to determine whether the definition of hotel under the policy is consistent with the intended uses?
6. Is there any training that hotel staff have received to serve this new population of tenants? What safety measures does the hotel or the City of Scottsdale plan to implement to ensure the safety of hotel staff?
7. In Section 11 of Contract No. 2023-123-COS, the environmental review conditions requirement appears to be waived for the City of Scottsdale as it pertains to this Is that correct?
8. As you may know, the environmental review process is required for all HUD-assisted projects to ensure that the proposed project does not negatively impact the surrounding environment and that the property site itself will not have an adverse environmental or health effect on end Does the City of Scottsdale plan to conduct an environmental review to ensure the safety of the program participants and surrounding neighborhoods? If not, please provide reasons was to why the city does not believe an environmental review is warranted.
9. What is the plan and expected frequency of code enforcement officers visiting to premise of the hotel to ensure there not housing code violations?
These are just a few questions regarding a majorpolicy initiative of serious consequence in the City of Scottsdale. The public does have right to know where, when, and how the City of Scottsdale intends to implement and monitor this program that has stirred great concern among the constituents we collectively serve. Given the timeframe of implementation of this program, I would appreciate a reply to these questions no later July 28, 2023.
1 See Resolution No. 12888 as presented to the Scottsdale City Council on June 27, 2023:
https://eservices.scottsdaleaz.gov/cityclerk/DocumentViewer/Show/0batb65e-586d-4c84-bb73-214763c436a5 .
2 See J. Graber’s story dated June 29, 2023 for the Daily Independent, “$940K Scottsdale grant will provide emergency shelter to homeless”: https://www.yourvalley.net/stories/940k-scotsdale-grant-will-provide-emergency shelter-to-homeless,407191.
3 See Erica Sanberg’s column dated June 27, 2020 for the New York Post, “San Francisco’s failed experiment of homeless hotels is a cautionary tale”: https://nypost.com/2020/06/27/san-franciscos-failed-experiment-of-homeless hotels-is-a-cautionary-tale/
4 See Joaquin Palomino and Trisha Thadani’s “Broken Homes” investigative series in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/san-francisco-sros/