After the City of Phoenix met a court-ordered deadline to clear and clean up the largest Phoenix homeless encampment near downtown, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said that work remains to help those experiencing homelessness and are in danger of experiencing homelessness.
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“Though our city staff and local non-profits made heroic push over the last few months to conduct outreach to our unsheltered neighbors, move them indoors, and ultimately clear this area, I want to emphasize that today does not mark the end of our work to address the nationwide homelessness crisis,” Gallego said after the large Phoenix homeless encampment was cleaned up.
She continued: “Rather, after months of concentrated efforts, we reached an important milestone that will help move us towards our goal of ending all homelessness in our community. We’ve dedicated historic amounts of funding and deployed innovative solutions to provide folks with shelter and wraparound services – but we can, must, and will do more.
“We are only successful if those who stayed in this area are now on a path to stable housing. That’s why I’ve asked City staff, in partnership with the Maricopa Association of Governments, to collect relevant data about their housing status and conduct follow-ups where necessary. I remain committed to the important work ahead of putting roofs over heads, investing in more permanent, affordable housing options, and building more coalitions to ultimately solve this crisis.”
Gallego understands that homelessness is a crisis for both the unsheltered and for many Phoenix neighborhoods. The challenge across the U.S. is posing a public health, public safety, and economic threat, which is why she has led on bold and innovative emergency responses such as converting hotels to temporary housing, using federal relief dollars to build homes made of shipping containers, and expanding wraparound services in partnership with Phoenix non-profits. As the entire country faces down a housing crisis, Gallego is leading from her 2019 “Housing Phoenix Plan” that aims to increase housing options for residents at all income levels and family sizes.
