Hey everyone. It's Erica
Stapleton with the 12 news I team,
and I want to let you know about some new
reporting in our series cost of crisis.
This time we took a deep dive into the zone,
Phoenix's largest homeless encampment.
Right now, there are more people
sleeping on the streets than
there are shelter beds available.
And this camp,
just blocks away from the state Capitol,
has not only seen more people,
but more crimes and more fires.
Not a day goes by
and you see how much it's
gotten out of control without
someone needing help in the zone,
Phoenix's largest homeless encampment. Nobody
wants this in their neighborhood.
We were mid interview with Bill
Moreland in front of his business,
Electric Supply Inc at 9th Ave Madison,
917 W Madison, when we had to
stop so he could call 911.
We have a gentleman trespassing
in the parking lot.
He seems to be having a.
Fit or a seizure of some type and
we've asked him to leave and I
don't even know that he can hear us.
He's in the middle of some
kind of an episode.
About 5 minutes later he obviously
needs help at some type.
Police and fire crews pulled up thanks
and put the man in handcuffs after
he dropped the rod he was holding.
Doing alright. We were told he'd be taken
for an emergency psychiatric evaluation
of employees who have been down here for
40 some odd years and they never felt
unsafe until the last two years or so.
The biggest change?
The growing number of people living in
the encampment that surrounds his shop.
And with that comes constant
calls for first responders.
The 12 news I team analyzed
police 911 data around the zone,
focusing in on these nine key blocks.
Since 2019 through June of this year,
police responded to more
than 4000 calls for help.
Just five types of calls account for
more than half of the police response,
trespassing, welfare checks,
fights, assaults and.
Mental health transports.
I've had an employee attacked
and head butted. I've had another
employee have a knife pulled on him.
The I team learned that starting in 2022,
police were also required to respond to
all calls for the fire department too.
As of early November,
calls for service to the Fire
Department have already eclipsed
the three full years before it,
with spikes in nearly all kinds of
calls including breathing problems,
assaults and heat related illnesses
in 124 hour span on one fall day.
The I team received tips
on three different fires,
two of which destroyed encampments
when you come home to nothing.
And you're already don't have
nothing, including Aisha,
starting over as a very rough
Aisha said she'd been living
on the streets in the zone for
about five months when an alleged
cooking fire from a neighbouring
tent destroyed her belongings.
We've been through so much,
you know it's a one.
Bad thing after another.
And I'm not perfect, but God,
you know, I just need a break.
Makeshift fires are a
common sight in the zone.
It's a BBQ to stay warm.
I'm. I'm one of my bones.
They hurt really bad.
But if they get out of control.
Engine 3 Fire Channel 5 for
a debris fire in the shelter,
230 S 12th Ave.
My biggest concern is how
many people get hurt.
Personally, I'm not that worried that
it's going to burn my building down.
It's more gonna hurt the people
who are living in the tents.
Bill
is trying to be part of a solution.
Serving on the Board of directors
at Central Arizona Shelter Services,
or casts, the state's largest homeless
shelter in the heart of the zone.
What we need to do is we need
to build a lot more shelters.
Cass has plans to add more than 200
new specialized shelter spaces for
seniors and those experiencing mental
illnesses over the next two years.
In October, the city of Phoenix also approved
a new shelter space and tiny home pilot,
but our goal is to have
it open by May of 2023.
But it's still not enough right now.
To cover the more than 900 people on
the streets in the zone and hundreds
more unsheltered throughout the city.
We're gonna end up paying for people to be
out here on the street one way or another.
I mean, we can pay for the fire department
to come down and put out a tent fire,
which is about the worst way to handle it.
Or we can pay to have the people
have someplace to go so that they're
not setting their tents on fire.
The need has never been greater
for Ayesha and her partner.
We're actually waiting for housing, but
for now, they're left. In the ashes,
but the city is supposedly I guess
we're gonna come and clean up,
waiting for a chance to start
from scratch yet again.
One day at a time, right?
Safety concerns aren't the
only thing troubling those who
live and work in the zone.
The number of people sleeping
in tents on the street in
this area tripled this year,
and the city of Phoenix is
facing challenges when it
comes to keeping things clean.
Freddie Brown junior thought he
knew what he was getting into,
so we've been here since
74 with PBF manufacturing,
his family's longtime casket
making shop in downtown Phoenix,
blocks away from the state capital.
My family owns the building,
owns the property, owns the business.
We are centrally located.
But lately, what once was the perfect spot
when we're talking about like a
lot of the issues now comes with
challenges. This stain right
here on my sidewalk is urine.
Over the past couple of years,
he's been experiencing.
Unanticipated changes in the
neighborhood brought on by the
growing homeless encampment,
which at its peak this year was
home to more than 1000 people
sleeping on the streets outside.
I've had to clean piles of human feces.
Urine is a constant problem. All of our
doorways have been sealed or blocked.
The conditions are brutal, not just
for Freddie, it's pretty rough,
but for those staying in the encampment,
I think a lot of it just has
to do with survival. See,
a lot of stuff that shouldn't
be done on public streets.
It's horrible out here that people.
They're in horrible condition.
They gotta go poop and pee in buckets
and there's no bathrooms and there's one
bathroom for like 405 hundred people.
Andrew said he'll only come here
during the day for resources
at the Human Services campus.
He's been turned away due to lack of
shelter beds and doesn't feel safe
on the streets outside the campus.
A lot of people get beat up and
robbed and pressured for drugs.
While back. I did have an
employee assaulted with a pipe.
The environment hasn't cost him
many customers as they mostly ship.
Items out, but it has cost him job
applicants, clean up time and security.
What we're struggling with right
now is we are trying to redo
the outside of our building,
make it a little more appealing,
but I can't find a construction
company willing to work down here
because they're worried about theft,
vandalism, having stuff go missing. From
Freddy's view, the city is dropping the ball
and we understand that the city
of Phoenix is doing things,
but it's been over two years,
so that is why we've.
Filed the lawsuit because they
continued to drag their feet.
In August, Brown and more than a dozen
other property owners in the area
filed a lawsuit against the city,
claiming the city isn't doing enough
to address concerns in the encampment.
Asking the judge to declare conditions
in the encampment a public nuisance
that the city would have to abate.
The lawsuit documented open drug use,
vandalism, violence and waste,
both human and otherwise.
It's probably fair to say
that it's gotten worse
in court city staff.
Admitted there were problems,
but the city still filed
to dismiss the lawsuit,
arguing residents can't tell
the city what to do and that
court wasn't the proper venue
to find a solution. They're
doing something.
It's something that the plaintiffs
don't like and don't like,
that it's not happening quickly enough,
that doesn't mean that nothing's
happening and that the city isn't
taking efforts to abate what is no
doubt a terrible condition downtown.
The city doesn't directly provide
services for homelessness and
contracts. Most of the work out,
the city's doing more than
it ever has to address.
The issue of homelessness? Scott
Hall, Phoenix's homeless services director,
says trash buildup is a huge safety concern.
When it comes to cleaning,
the city is out three times a week,
going curb to curb,
shoveling and raking items by hand,
security and a contracted biowaste
cleaning service following close behind.
We don't get into anybody's personal
property outside of the curb line.
These sweeps used to look
different prior to this year.
People living on the streets
had to pack up and move their
encampments before the cleanings,
or else their belongings could be
thrown out by the city's street
transportation team alongside.
Phoenix police.
But after complaints that the
city was trashing things like
ID's and birth certificates,
it scaled back.
The complaints also drew the attention
of the Department of Justice and
the Phoenix Police Department,
which opened an investigation last
August into Phoenix police to determine,
in part, whether the agency unlawfully
seized or disposed of belongings.
As of the end of October this year,
the DOJ was still interviewing
police staff and observing trainings
as part of the investigation.
They basically pick up trash out of
the streets, like around my building.
They don't sanitize or clean up feces.
They'll maybe scrape some stuff
up and that's it. 2 hours later,
you wouldn't know they were here.
As soon as the city cleans up the streets,
more garbage seems to pile up.
The city says public works
empties dumpsters daily,
and they've recently restored grates
on storm drains to avoid buildup there.
We're trying to do more and
we're trying to do it better.
Our ultimate goal is to get
everybody off the street.
A new judge took over the
lawsuit in early November,
and it's up to him to decide
if the zone is in fact.
Public nuisance or if the
case should be thrown out,
I don't think it's fair that me or
my employees have to clean this
as the trash keeps piling up.
And I don't think it's fair that the
city of Phoenix is tax dollars are
going for cleanups that are ineffective.
The city is hoping to start enhanced
cleanings again in December,
but this time there will be storage
options and a way to reclaim lost items.
Meantime, the Human Services
campus is grappling with the
highest demand they've ever seen.
When it rains,
we have a tent that's not
exactly waterproof. It pours.
We're wet for Jennifer Owens.
I know what I used to complain about
wasn't perfect, like it wasn't the
Taj Mahal we didn't live in before.
I eagerly, gladly go back to Lois of
apartments just to get off the street,
not just embarrassed to be on the street.
I'm just uncomfortable.
I don't don't like it.
She and her husband wound up in the zone,
Phoenix's largest homeless encampment,
at the end of September after their
living situation fell through.
Two incomes. It's hard to
find, but affordable rent.
They say they bought a cheap tent
from someone on the streets and
pitched it here at the corner
of 12th Ave and Jefferson.
That is not a home.
It hasn't been easy. A cramped tent,
a neighbors generator humming at all hours.
Plus they have their dog with them.
He likes to sleep with us,
to shower with us. For
them, the main thing in between
this setup and a shelter bed are
the hundreds of others in line
at the Human Services campus.
What is it like to turn
someone away? That's awful.
It's hard on everyone who works
here that we can't fully meet
the need of every single person.
Amy Schwab Inlander is the executive
director at the Human Services Campus.
So this is the inside of our
our mail room, our post office,
which is home to the state's largest shelter,
and other resources for those
experiencing homelessness,
like mental and physical health care,
even dental care and mail services.
Jennifer's gone on site
several times to get help,
including a new ID and birth certificate.
They'll even help you get housing.
They'll help you get furniture.
We'll help you do everything,
stand in a lot of lines.
There's a lot of you have
to get used to that.
The campus is welcome center is now open
24 hours a day to accommodate the rise
in people experiencing homelessness.
When we look at the number here
served over the course of a year and
it's 12,000 unduplicated people.
And right now the shelters on site
are regularly at capacity housing
about 900 people. Each night,
while more people set up tents outside
two 5300 last August to
almost 900 this August,
while we are sheltering more people,
also the total, than in our neighborhood
is about 1700 people every night,
and that's the most ever.
It's hard to go in there and get
help make it past all the homeless
people selling drugs out here.
Andrew told us he'd been homeless for
about four years, and getting into
the shelter for even just one night
in September made all the difference.
It was safe inside,
but it was only for one night,
and that didn't really.
Help me achieve my goal.
I need a place to sleep every
night and be safe. People
are literally dying.
They're dying more in the heat
because it's hot out outside,
they've been unhoused and it's
not healthy to not have a home.
The fierce urgency of now for
me and my team is that when
we don't do what we can.
It literally affects people's lives.
The campus trying to keep up with the need.
Turning day rooms to shelter space by night.
Matt stacked against the wall
until people can sleep on them.
But as the needs grow so do costs.
Inflation top of mind.
We've started budgeting in 11% more
and spending is necessary
even for a nonprofit.
We have to pay people to do these jobs.
I think sometimes folks might
think we can have more volunteers
running these programs and.
It's really not a lot of roles
that people want to do for free.
In 2021, the Human Services Campus
reported $8.6 million in expenses,
which is almost double expenditures
reported two years ago,
with the highest budgets being
employees and security services.
Some of their funding comes
from private donations,
while other sources include partner
facility fees or government contracts,
including the City of Phoenix.
And since the pandemic,
the Human Services campus got a big boost.
From the city,
including more than $5 million
in COVID relief funding.
That money is going to run out,
though we're all facing a financial Cliff.
That COVID relief money from
the American Rescue Plan Act
can only be used through 2024,
so the boost will eventually dry up.
An additional funding like
that isn't guaranteed.
My mantra is worry doesn't
actually solve anything.
So it is more about planning
and continually taking stock of
where are we at, what do we have?
What can we do next
for Jennifer and hundreds of others.
It's good that this place
is here. We need it.
The one stop shop at the Human Services
campus can't meet all their needs right now.
It's daunting to know.
We shelter 900 people last night
and there's 860 people who slept
outside because we don't have
enough shelter capacity here or
anywhere in Maricopa County.
Do you think the city of Phoenix is
doing enough right now
to address homelessness?
I think the city of Phoenix is doing a lot.
I think everybody can do more.
Despite the lack of shelter space,
resources and long-term funding,
there have been success stories
at the Human Services campus.
In 2021, campus data says their teams
helped 400 people into housing,
and one woman's journey
inspired her to give back.
Ever since she was a little girl.
Dorethea Grayson always had
an escape. I'm 70. Her art's
been doing this for a long time,
pouring all she's got.
I need to put on my gloves
into each and every piece and escape.
She's eager to share with others
her pieces now hanging all over
the Human Services campus,
a collection of resources for those
experiencing homelessness in the valley,
the campus in high demand.
Thank you. Have a good day.
Business on the rise.
It's awful. Amy Schwab Inlander,
the campuses executive director,
says they've seen the number
of people camping outside
the campus triple this year.
While we are sheltering more people,
also the total, than in our neighborhood
is about 1700 people every night.
And that's the most ever.
The surge of people greeted by Dorethea's
artwork that often imitates one of
the darkest parts of her own life.
Dorethea said she lost her home in a fire,
and when things didn't pan out with family,
she was facing a reality she couldn't escape.
I started crying homelessness, I said.
Did I do something wrong?
In 2021, she wound up at Cass,
the largest shelter on
the Human Services campus.
There's tents all around the place,
people cursing each other out,
peeing in the streets,
doing all kinds of ungodly things
for nearly a year. She said she
lived in and out of the shelter,
and like any other uncertainty she's faced,
adding to what I already have one,
she turned to the one constant
thing that keeps her going.
I just thought to myself,
I've been here all this time.
Her art I gotta give back.
Like this mask mural or the
contents of her bag one day.
Everybody has a hot mess all on display
to encourage others to keep pressing on.
So as a community and as of this summer,
dorethea now paints from her.
New apartment? Yes.
So beautiful after services on campus
helped her secure housing and furniture.
Yeah, unpacking the art
supplies makes it smooth.
Before unpacking her clothes this
time you get the bubbles out.
She's working on another
piece to donate to the campus.
I like a cartoon version
in the way of James Brown.
A thank you for giving her a
fresh canvas in her own life.
Look forward to that in Phoenix. What I do.
Erica Stapleton, 12 news.
As of mid November,
the city was part of opening a
new shelter in a Phoenix hotel,
adding 117 rooms, with people in the
zone being a priority to get a bed.
The city also plans to add a new
shelter next year in South Phoenix,
along with a pilot for tiny homes.
That's not set to open up until May 2023,
and it still won't be enough to
accommodate all of those who are
unsheltered right now in Phoenix.
Erica Stapleton, 12 news.