The homeless situation in Maricopa County has become quite fluid since the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Pathways Home Regional Homelessness Action Plan was adopted in May of 2021.

Created as an action plan for local and tribal governments to build a strong regional infrastructure to address homelessness in Maricopa County, Pathways Home has a goal of reducing homelessness by 25% by 2027. Recently, however, that goal has become a moving target as the number of individuals experiencing homelessness has grown.

“We continue to have an increase in the number of individuals entering the system, so the math gets tricky,” Kelli Williams said, director of human services at MAG. “We are still not meeting demand for the number of individuals who are experiencing homelessness.”

According to the most recent Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, a 7% increase in homelessness across the region occurred from 2022 to 2023.

While the rise in homelessness is concerning, Williams says she’s focused on the long-term, adding that achieving their goal of 25% reduction by 2027 is more of a marathon than a sprint. And because of the influx of individuals experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County, tracking their progress is more critical than ever.

Homeless housing

Arguably MAG’s biggest advancement since this program’s inception is the addition of permanent and temporary housing. Thanks to contributions from local and tribal governments, the number of people in shelters has increased by 18% from 2022 to 2023. According to its online Progress Snapshot tracker, MAG has surpassed its goal of adding 770 units of temporary housing by 74 units. And with 844 permanent housing units in place, MAG is on track to hit its goal of 1,225 permanent housing units in the near future.

County-wide effort

The Pathways Home campaign was unanimously passed in December of 2021 by local and tribal governments including Fountain Hills, which joined the campaign because Town leadership was eager to help with an ongoing county-wide issue.

“What I found really interesting about this whole approach was that we are 25 entities or so that are part of MAG and it’s a regional planning organization for homelessness, air, transportation and these things that don’t have borders,” Fountain Hills Mayor Ginny Dickey said. “Unless you just stay in Fountain Hills all the time, you care about the economic vitality of the whole region. This helps everybody.”

With no official homeless service in Fountain Hills apart from the Extended Hands Food Bank, Dickey and the Town Council decided to contribute funds toward the MAG homeless campaign, approving $50,000 in FY2021/2022. For FY 2023/2024, an additional $50,000 was allocated, $10,000 of which went toward the Pathways Home campaign and $40,000 was sent to one of its partner organizations, A New Leaf, a shelter approximately 12 miles from Fountain Hills which provides homeless shelters, after-school programs and Rapid Re-Housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.

“I think it was a very realistic way for us to contribute to this huge effort,” Dickey said, who meets with MAG monthly for updates on its partner programs.

To those who believe the homeless issue in Fountain Hills is a new occurrence, Dickey said to hit the history books.

“I’ve lived here 40 years,” she said. “It’s not new. And it’s not out of control. But people want something done.”

In response to concerns about homelessness, Dickey points to the list of social service resources on the Town of Fountain Hills website that includes information on litigation, substance abuse, transportation and even racism.

In terms of public safety, Dickey reiterated that there is no trespassing in the washes and the Town parks are closed at night. Most importantly, however, she said it’s best to treat everyone with respect because it’s hard to know what someone is going through.

“Not everybody who is homeless is someone on drugs or mentally ill,” she added. “They are literally people and families with kids who just can’t pay the rent anymore.”

Making progress

Despite the growing number of people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County, Kelli Williams points to a few more advancements over the last two years, including the implementation of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a local database to collect information related to housing and services.

Progress has also been made through the launch of a public education campaign, homeiswhereitallstarts.org, and through a strategic partnership with Threshold, a housing assistance service that has increased the available units for those transitioning from homelessness.

With progress being made across the region, Dickey said she is excited about the future impact of MAG but knows there’s still work to be done.

“It's important for each community to contribute in the ways that are tailored or are appropriate for them,” Dickey said. “We are doing our part to help solve a regional problem that we do have here.”