>

I live in the most liberal city in the second most liberal state and i assure you, liberal policies won't help. They're not helping here. We have the second worst homeless problem in the nation. The feds need to address this because it obviously can't be solved on a state level.
Not surprised. You can't go anywhere in Tucson these days without seeing tent villages in washes and on the sides of roads. There's a massive one with like 40 tents right near the airbase. >

It's incredibly sad. The city is being sued right now for homeless sweeps by police to get the homeless folks out of site before the gem and mineral show starts. It does seem like the city is trying to help with the homelessness but it is such a complex issue. I honestly just wish the put half the effort in to it as they did with other projects such as Rio Nuevo. >

Yeah I have no idea what the solution is. I'm sure a substantial amount of people here became homeless elsewhere but are in town because the climate is more suitable for camping this time of year. I'm sure many living in the Rillito and Santa Cruz had a rude awakening this past week with the rain and snowmelt. >

Give them sheds and old trailers/RVs somewhere with facilities so they have a place to live? >

That's basically the same situation they have now. The only way to deal with mass homelessness is to give them what amounts to permanent housing and social services and orient them towards finding jobs.
People will complain about the spending needed to make it happen and the "free ride" but they're the ones currently complaining about having to see them living in squalor, so people need to pick which one they are more willing to complain about. >

In their perfect God-fearing world they'd just kill them all or throw them into the desert to die.  Make no mistake, it's not about spending to them, it's about cruelty. >

These housing prices are beyond crazy. And its basically forcing people to rent at absurd rates corporations should not be allowed to owned multiple properties to rent for profit as well as foreign nationals. Enough is enough >

AZ cost of housing shot up really fast. This is one of the highest correlated items to homeless rates. 
Housing is starting to come down, but slowly, and rent from properties purchased at the height won't. >


“HUD does not believe that couch surfing should be considered as homeless,” said Dawn Bogart of the nonprofit Homeless Youth Connection

I absolutely disagree with this. Couch surfing with different friends and/or family is not permanent secured housing, and people who do this should be considered homeless still. >

If you don’t have a guaranteed place to sleep that night then you are homeless. Did we really go so far backwards that 10 people in a 2 bedroom apartment isn’t a housing problem? >

Yes. In America, the solution to any problem is to just ignore it. >

Wow that's bull shit. It's not like people actually want roommates. More often than not, they rent rooms because it's cheaper than renting an apartment or townhome. If they want to ban that practice, then rent needs to come down by a lot, but of course it's not going to. >

Chances are the ones pushing this want the rent to go up >

Growing up in Phoenix you'd never see this much Houselessness.  
It is beyond unreal just how many unhoused people there are in Phoenix now. I constantly have transients walking by our house and they are Tents being popped up not a block from my house.    
I've never ever seen it this bad before. >

Bottom of the list in education for decades. Is it really all that surprising? >

No, no it’s not. Phoenix seems to care more about corporate interests (especially real estate developers) than anything or anybody else. I lived there for 27 years and it was one of the most bleak, empty experiences of my life thus far. The whole city feels like it’s turned against you either due to its sprawl, extremely poor public transit, awful job opportunities, lack of shaded public spaces, defunded education, utility monopolies, cookie-cutter houses that make you feel like you’re in a dystopian hellscape - I mean, I can go on all day. Phoenix just felt so hostile to humans when I lived there. I absolutely dreaded nearly every day of living there and I am very happy to have left. >

Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth >

I work in social services in Az. Arizona is something like #1 in inflation in the country. I work with adults but many of them have children and damn near every client on my caseload can't afford their rent every month. They run out of food every month. The resources in the community are all stretched to the limit. Subsidized housing waitlists are years long. There are waitlists to get on the waitlist. Our "affordable/low income" housing lists are laughably not low income, rent topping out at $2000/month is not low income.
It's bonkers. It's not sustainable. >

Hey fellow social worker, Colorado checking in. Stay strong, we won't stop fighting for our clients. We fight for those who have no voice. >

It's not a surprise, the republican lead governments here have stripped away basically all support for low income families. Food stamps you have to make a ridiculously low amount of money to get at all, same with housing assistance, they got rid of universal Pre-K a few years back. I'm hoping now that we have a more liberal government here that some of these issues will be addressed. The only way to fight homelessness is to create programs that actually help.these people have a home and a life. This strategy of "make it so uncomfortable for them that they leave" just doesn't work.