Reflections from the front lines serving people experiencing homelessness, monsoon weather in effect, operating in the last month of a fiscal year, reviewing/ plotting/ and planning. 

At the Key Campus in Phoenix, we are down to three spaces for people to sleep in overnight. The COVID-initiated overflow shelter for 280 people nightly has ended. As of June 1, St. Vincent de Paul is hosting heat relief overnight shelter for 170 people nightly. CASS continues to shelter 600 people, and Keys to Change shelters 95 people per night in Respiro. The grand total nightly is now 865 at most. The loss of 110 spaces, which were mats on floors of two buildings, is noticeable.

The Keys to Change Outreach Team counted 162 unsheltered individuals in the immediate area around Key Campus and 526 individuals in a broader area today, the morning of June 3.

Last week Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) released the annual point-in-time data from the January 2025 unsheltered and sheltered count in Maricopa County. Source: https://azmag.gov/Programs/Homelessness/Data/Point-In-Time-Homelessness-Count

What does the data tell us?

• Homelessness increased from 2024 to 2025. The increase is 3%.
• Unsheltered homelessness also increased. The increase is 22%.
• People of color are overrepresented in the homeless population as compared to the total population of the County.
• People are unsheltered across the entirety of the County. From the far West edges at the 303 to the farthest Eastern reaches along the 202. There is map at the link above. The visual representation is striking. Homelessness is not a Phoenix-only challenge. It’s a regional issue, take a look if you are unsure.
• Many cities in Maricopa County report increases year over year in homelessness.
• The point-in-time count is by no means perfect. It is always going to be an under-count. The count is done in the very early hours of a Tuesday in January. It’s dark outside. It’s often cold. People who are homeless don’t want to be found. And volunteers conducting the count may not be able to cover the entirety of the area.
• And this count gives us an annual benchmark. The total count for 2025 is 9,734. This is the highest ever. In 2019 the total was 6,614. We haven’t gotten that much better at counting. Homelessness has gone up.

If you are reading this and don’t live in Arizona, look online for your community’s local data. What is it telling you?

Another day I will write about why homelessness is increasing. Today I ask you to let the data sink in.

While you are percolating on this information, also know that after a 20-year partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS), the contract supporting the “post office” on Key Campus will terminate September 10, 2025.

I don’t have the history of what local genius made this contract happen when the Campus opened in 2005. I do know that it has made a true difference to tens of thousands of people. By being able to use the Campus address on applications for employment, housing, insurance, etc. people experiencing homelessness can receive mail.

The USPS contract provided $24,000 annually against a program budget of about $120,000. The beauty of the contract was being able to count on the postal service to deliver all mail for multiple buildings on a 13-acre Campus, and to be able to proudly tell people of this partnership. As the granddaughter of a woman who retired from the Postal Service, I was always reminded of Grandma Joyce when I gave people tours.

The ‘post office’ on Campus has never offered retail services; no stamps are sold, packages are not shipped. In the last year more than 7,000 people used the service to receive mail – insurance information, early voting ballots, Social Security correspondence, checks, and more.

The USPS emailed me in May with a 120-day notice of contract termination. They are no longer able to “pay us to sort the mail.” It has clearly never been about the money for our organization. Of course it helps.

We will continue to offer the ‘mail room’ service and will have to raise more dollars to do so. We won’t be describing this as a “post office,” and we won’t be touting a partnership with the USPS. I say it’s their loss….

People have been asking about the effects of Federal decisions. Well, we are losing $24,000 a year. Not a huge loss. And, homelessness is increasing, which the Administration is not presenting any strategies, solutions, or funds to address. We have by no means felt the full effect yet.

We will continue to serve as many people as we can. We will plot, plan, and organize for future opportunities to affect positive change. Focusing to the goal of achieving functional zero, balancing the inflow to homelessness and the outflow to housing.