The infamous mass homeless encampment in the heart of Phoenix, known as “The Zone,” is now growing despite city leaders’ insistence they’re doing all they can to abide by a court order to remove it.
The Human Services Campus (HSC), which provides services to Phoenix’s homeless, reports that the homeless population hasn’t declined since cleanup efforts began in May. In fact, HSC reported that the population grew.
At the end of June, there were 640 homeless living in the Zone. That number would decline and increase in waves throughout July, lowering the total by about 100 to 550 persons last week. However, the decrease appears to be part of a fluctuating pattern: what has appeared to be a decline may spike within a week. Last week’s total, although an overall decline from June’s end, was a slight increase from the end of July (545 persons).
What’s more, last week’s count is higher than when cleanups first began in the beginning of May (about 530 persons).
When accounting for the area around the Zone as well, there were just over 900 homeless at the peak at July’s end. Past records estimate that downtown Phoenix’s homeless population has reached a high of about 1,000 people. Across Maricopa County, there are around 9,600 homeless: a seven percent increase from previous years.
Other city initiatives may be to blame for undermining the cleanups’ impact on the homeless population.
One initiative may be the multimillion-dollar “heat relief,” or “cooling,” stations for the homeless: water, shade, towels, and other resources to weather the summer temperatures.
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City officials are also hard set on following the “housing first” approach: providing housing to the homeless first, then seeking employment, mental health treatment, and substance abuse treatment. Housing first is also referred to as “permanent supportive housing,” which integrates public housing and food supplies with mental illness and substance abuse services.
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While the city handles clearing out the Zone with an unrelenting homeless population, it also faces the prospect of another deadline and more standards for mitigating homelessness.
Friday marks the filing deadline in the ongoing case Brown v. City of Phoenix, after which the judge, Scott Blaney, will issue a ruling to either walk his order back on immediate Zone cleanups or to set a hard deadline on a permanent cleanup.
Blaney issued a court injunction in March ordering the city to clean up The Zone immediately. After initial resistance, the city began cleanups in May.
The city’s current approach to mitigating homelessness — which includes over $119 million in planned spending — doesn’t have voter support or confidence. A poll by Seminal Strategies for the Cicero Institute last month found that 78 percent of respondents believed homelessness is progressively worsening. 71 percent of respondents supported state audits of how local government agencies spend on homelessness.
80 percent of respondents believed that the homeless should be relocated to shelters.
The majorities in those cases reflected a bipartisan spread of Democrats, independents, and Republicans.
Last year, the city of Phoenix established just under 600 new shelter beds and anticipate the addition of 800 more through this year and the next.