How We Invest in Solving the Homelessness Crises Matters
A look at Arizona's spending and strategies in the ongoing battle against homelessness.
A note to our readers: Today, we are joined by Tom Simplot, former Director of the Arizona Department of Housing and former member of the Phoenix City Council. Simplot argues that despite Arizona’s significant investment in combating homelessness, the crisis continues to worsen, demonstrating the complexity of resource allocation. He highlights the findings from a Common Sense Institute report which reveals both the growing homeless population and the escalating costs associated with addressing this issue.
As a reminder, opinion columns like this differ from our weekly round-ups, which are straight news. We hope you enjoy!
Arizonans desperately want action to solve our homelessness crises.
That’s one of the big takeaways from a recent report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) that takes a deep and comprehensive look at homelessness in Arizona. After all, if we didn’t care, our state wouldn’t be collectively spending more than $1 billion fighting this humanitarian public health and public safety crises.
But as the report also illustrates, how we take action and how we best deploy this massive amount of resources is much more complex and challenging than meets the eye.
I’ve been involved in this issue for more than two decades, first as a member of the Phoenix City Council and more recently as Director of the Department of Housing. I’ve worked with both parties and with myriad stakeholders who intersect with this issue. And I was grateful to serve as an expert reviewer of this new CSI report, the first of its kind in Arizona.
For those of us with a passion for helping those in dire situations, this report shows that there is much work to be done. Despite record investments, the problem is getting worse – not better.
Among CSI’s findings:
A Massive and Growing Investment: Arizona’s annual spending on homelessness now ranges between $933 million and $1.1 billion. Despite this, the state’s population of individuals experiencing homelessness has increased disproportionately more than the state’s overall population growth.
Increasing Homeless Population: The number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Arizona exceeds 14,000, and this population has surged by nearly 30 percent over the past three years.
Disproportionate Spending: Spending per individual experiencing homelessness far exceeds the median annual rent in Greater Phoenix, yet the number of homeless individuals without shelter has nearly tripled in the last decade.
Mortality Rates: Tragically, the rate of deaths among individuals experiencing homelessness is increasing at a faster pace in Arizona than the rate of homelessness itself. An estimated 81 percent of deaths in people experiencing homelessness were drug-related, versus approximately 21 percent of overall deaths.
A Growing Sector of Employment: The homelessness sector in Arizona is comparable in workforce size to the state’s mining and logging sector and spends about $44,300 annually per homeless person. In fact, CSI identified at least 167 nonprofit organizations – staffed by 52,000 employees and volunteers – and 25 local governments providing homelessness services in Arizona today.
So where do we go from here? How can we help Arizona cities from making the same mistakes that have been made by Portland, Seattle, San Francisco or Los Angeles? How can we lift those experiencing homelessness out of their plight and help them find a better life?
Again, the data in the report offers a path forward.
Based on medical examiner data, CSI estimates that 81 percent of deaths in people experiencing homelessness were drug-related, versus approximately 21 percent of overall deaths. Homeless individuals are more often the victims of violent crime, including homicide. For example, studies suggest the rate of violence victimization among people experiencing homelessness ranges from 14 percent to 21 percent, versus an estimated 2.3 percent for the population overall.
The homelessness crisis isn’t going away. It’s a national problem and Arizona is grappling with it like never before. CSI’s report is our first look at where the dollars are going. Unfortunately, Arizona has work to do.
Lawmakers would be wise to read this report, work to create a better system tracking the flow of money, tie investments to benchmarks and metrics, and add a dose of tough love to our approach. At the end of the day, this is about the lives of our fellow citizens. Arizonans would surely invest even more dollars, but they also want transparency and progress.
Tom Simplot is former director of the Arizona Department of Housing and a longtime member of the Phoenix City Council. Tom’s career in housing has spanned several decades as an attorney, former real estate agent and former owner of affordable rental properties in Arizona. Tom is also past president of the Maricopa County Board of Health and the Maricopa County Industrial Development Authority.