Research

The policy that I chose was homelessness in Arizona, and how there are not enough shelters for the homeless. Homelessness has been on the rise since 2017, which means we need to allocate more resources to house these homeless people. Around 50% of the homeless population is unsheltered, which is inhumane in the scorching desert that we live in. There are not enough beds being added each year to support the recent rise of homelessness.

Arizona State Lottery Fund

This report discusses where money from the Arizona State Lottery Fund is being used to fight homelessness by donating to nonprofit homeless service providers throughout Maricopa and Pima. The lottery fund allocates $1,000,000 to nonprofit groups like A New Leaf and Central Arizona Shelter Services. This report also uses Arizona’s annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Homeless Count in order to allocate money. This report shows how homelessness is still on the rise despite these efforts, which shows the need to continue to fund measures to end homelessness.  This report uses recent PIT counts from 2023, which shows how homelessness is still a problem today and is currently affecting thousands of people. This report includes links to all of the PIT’s that were used throughout the state This source is also credible because it is from an Ariznoa government department, the Department of Economic Security, which focuses on economic security, which includes shelters for people experiencing homelessness

Homelessness in Arizona Annual Report 2023

This report demonstrates the rise of homelessness in Arizona using their annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Homeless Count. The PIT count is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This report aggregates the data from its 3 regional counts, and the regional counts are sourced. The PIT count shows how homelessness has been on the rise since 2017, with the majority being sheltered. This shows the need to continue to build more shelters for the increasing homelessness population. This report also shows many other graphs about the rise of homelessness in families, veterans, and chronic homelessness. This report uses recent PIT counts from 2023, which shows how homelessness is still a problem today and is currently affecting thousands of people. This source is also credible because it is from an Ariznoa government department, the Department of Economic Security, which focuses on economic security, which includes shelters for people experiencing homelessness.

Solutions Office of Homeless Solutions

This website shows the City of Phoenix’s current and completed homelessness shelter projects. The website shows a brief overview of the budget, amount of beds added, and the completion date of several shelter projects. It also shows current shelter projects that have yet to be completed. This website shows how the City of Phoenix is combating the rise of homelessness. The City of Phoenix uses data collected by the Maricopa Association of Governments, which includes the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care, which focuses on homelessness and shelters. While the efforts of Phoenix are significant, there are still thousands of people that are homeless and unsheltered. Since this website was created by the City of Phoenix, the data should be accurate and credible. Each of the overviews of the completed projects provides a link to the original project.

2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Report

This is the actual 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Report that was referenced before. This PIT count is taken in 2024 in the county of Maricopa by the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care. This report shows the population of unsheltered versus sheltered, and it shows that the unsheltered population is decreasing when compared to last year’s PIT. This PIT also lists the demographics of people experiencing homelessness, such as their race, gender, age, and city that they live in. For example, the majority of homeless people are adult white males. It also shows special groups, like families and veterans, who are experiencing homelessness. The majority of these special groups are sheltered, while the majority of white males are unsheltered. The report also describes that shelters are full and that more shelters are needed. This source is credible because it comes from the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care, which focuses on homelessness and shelters, and it is staffed by the Maricopa Association of Governments, a government agency.

Homelessness Trends Report

This report shows homelessness trends in Maricopa county from January to March of 2024. This is more recent compared to Arizona’s 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Homeless Count, since the PIT is taken in January, while this count was taken in March. Both the PIT and the more recent count show that homelessness is on the rise, since more people are coming in than exiting. This report shows the demographics of people experiencing homelessness, like gender, race, and age. This shows that adult males are the largest group of people to experience homelessness. All of this data comes from the Maricopa Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which the report did not specify how it was collected. This source is credible because it comes from the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care, which focuses on homelessness and shelters, and it is staffed by the Maricopa Association of Governments, a government agency.

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