Homelessness rises in Phoenix area after rare drop in 2024
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
After a rare decrease in 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness is again on the rise in the Valley, with an especially noteworthy increase in unsheltered people, according to this year's point-in-time count from the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG).
The big picture: Last year, the Phoenix area saw its first decrease since 2017, which turned out to be only a temporary alleviation of an increasingly severe problem.
By the numbers: The number of people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County on Jan. 27, when this year's count was taken, was 9,734.
- That was a 3% increase from last year's count of 9,435.
- It was the highest total in Maricopa County since national tracking began in 2007, breaking the previous record, set in 2023.
- There was also an increase in homeless veterans and young adults ages 18-24 since last year.
Zoom in: The number of homeless families dropped from 598 last year to 536 this year.
- And the total considered chronically homeless fell sharply, from 2,135 to 2,007.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a chronically homeless person as someone who is unhoused, has a disability, and has been continuously homeless for more than a year, or as someone who has been homeless four or more times in the past three years, with a combined length of at least 12 months.
What they're saying: MAG noted in a press statement that federal funding for more than 1,000 shelter beds in the region dried up between 2024 and 2025 and said that the conditions fueling the region's homelessness, like high rent and limited access to support services, haven't improved.
- Rachel Milne, director of the Phoenix Office of Homeless Solutions, said in the statement that Phoenix and other local communities "have been working hard to fill the gaps left by the expiration of temporary federal funds this past year."
Between the lines: Last year was the first since 2019 that more unhoused people were sleeping indoors than outdoors.
- The 2024 decrease in people sleeping outdoors was likely due to 820 new shelter beds added in the region over the preceding year, per MAG.
- That reverted this year, with 4,527 sheltered people compared with 5,207 unsheltered, a 28% jump.
- MAG noted that people sleeping in Phoenix's Safe Outdoor Space, a structured campground that opened in November 2023, are considered unsheltered. HUD rejected a request by Arizona and California officials to designate people living in such campsites as sheltered.
Yes, but: Even if the 220 Safe Outdoor Space residents in the count were deemed sheltered, there would still be more unsheltered people.
- Including Outdoor Safe Space residents, the number of unsheltered people in Phoenix jumped from 2,701 to 3,761.
- MAG also noted last year that rainy weather the night before the count could have led some people who normally sleep outside to seek shelter.
How it works: Each January, MAG volunteers fan out across the county to tally people experiencing homelessness, checking shelters, sidewalks, parks, canals, alleyways, storefronts, desert washes and other spaces.
- The annual report is required by HUD.
- The point-in-time survey is a useful but imperfect tool and is largely believed to undercount the number of people experiencing homelessness.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that MAG considered people sleeping in Phoenix's Safe Outdoor Space unsheltered (not that they were previously considered sheltered while staying there).