By Staff Reporter |

Over the last three years, the city of Phoenix spent over $180 million in its attempts to address its growing homeless population.

New research from The Goldwater Institute suggests that the millions had little impact, if any, in reducing the rates of homelessness. The population grew 92 percent in Phoenix from 2018 to 2023, and 72 percent in Maricopa County from 2017 to 2023. Homeless population totals for 2021 weren’t collected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth became evident in certain areas, such as the downtown area unofficially ignored by police for most response calls known as “The Zone.” 

The $180 million constitutes a low estimate of total expenditures; when adding in funds from the state, federal government, and private entities considered to be budget line items, that number grows to over $250 million, per their research. 

About one-sixth of those city funds went to the Community Bridges organization — $30 million — which provided property and housing services as well as outreach for shelter support services. 

The other major contracts put up by the city to address homelessness were $16 million for BRYCON, which provided shelter space and general contracting; $13 million for St. Vincent de Paul, which provided emergency shelter, transitional housing, and hotel operations; $9.4 million for Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), which provided housing, shelter, and homeless support services; $9 million for Mercy Care, which provided behavioral health and mental health services; $7 million for Human Services Campus, which provided relief sprung structure for shelter; $6.2 million for Salvation Army, which provided shelter and street outreach; $4.6 million for A New Leaf, which provided rapid rehousing and homeless youth reunification; $4.5 million for UMOM Day Centers, which provided shelter and street outreach; $2.6 million for Steel & Spark, the provider of the X-Wing Shelter Units; $2.3 million for Homeward Bound, which provided homeless prevention efforts such as GED and job training; $2 million for St. Joseph the Worker, which provided workforce villages and paying housing costs; $1.2 million for Child Crisis Arizona, which provided shelter for homeless minors; and $1 million for Southwest Behavioral Health Services, which provided criminal justice for the homeless and outreach. 

Four of the city’s contractors for homeless services — Southwest Behavioral Health, Chicanos Por La Causa, CASS, and Mercy Care — have seats on the city’s task force to address homelessness. 

Per the Goldwater Institute, the city has yet to disburse $63 million for city-owned shelters, emergency rental assistance, property acquisition, hotel conversion, and affordable housing.

The city’s Office of Homeless Solutions (OHS) reports that it has committed $140 million since 2021 through the end of this year to address homelessness through shelter and heat relief, outreach, supportive and behavioral health services, homelessness prevention, and supportive housing. 

According to the Goldwater Institute, OHS has only provided public accounting for 34 percent of that $140 million. Additionally, that 34 percent consisted of vague reporting, such as the absence of program start and end dates.

The unrelenting growth in the homeless population, despite expensive efforts to stymie, it has prompted alternative actions from city leaders. Earlier this month, the city council enacted an ordinance banning homeless encampments near parks and schools.

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