Reflections from the front lines serving people experiencing homelessness, reminding everyone of the precautions to take during this week-long extreme heat warning, mentally processing the scant information shared about federal funding and policy changes, challenging people to think about the larger systems, and resolving daily to stay focused to the goal.
And that is all difficult. I won’t lie. Summers in Phoenix are a literal hot mess. This week the high temps are 110 degrees and above. It’s searing. Very little wind. Essentially no cloud cover. And in the neighborhood immediately surrounding Key Campus our Street Outreach team counted 115 unsheltered people this morning. In the larger, 5-miles or so radius, another 493 unsheltered people. Total 608. That’s a snippet of the total geography of Maricopa County. Living outdoors in this weather is unhealthy.
The shelter spaces on the Campus are full.
This is the reality.
These are the facts.
This is why, regardless of the potential for Federal changes to policy and funding, we remain focused to the goal of ensuring all people who experience homelessness in Maricopa County have access to a safe, climate-controlled place to sleep.
Some who are regular readers may be expecting this writing to address the Executive Order that may lead to mandated institutionalization, violation of personal health information, and beyond. The language implies changes that if implemented would dismantle and unravel the services that have been woven over decades to build a homeless response system. While we are not in agreement on these proposed changes, writing about the possibilities of them is not the best use of my time at this moment.
Contract reviews. Yes, worth our time, we are doing it.
Scenario planning. Yes, worth our time, we are doing it.
Advocating for what is known to be effective. Yes, worth our time, we are doing it.
One thing we are not doing, we are not planning to “Do more with less.”
I’ve been in some circles of conversation where the reduction of governmental funding is brought up. And someone will say, “I guess we will have to figure out how to do more with less.” I’ve been in my role here now for seven years. Speaking for our organization alone, I will say that we have been doing “More than we should with not enough.” What do I mean by “more than we should?”
I mean not having enough staff so that people are not overworked, reaching their breaking points, and pushing through it. Burn out is real.
I mean not having enough funds so that staff are paid at least a wage that covers the cost of living. People having to work more than one job, and/or needing financial assistance themselves is real.
I mean not having slack at any level, front line or administrative, so that when the unexpected happens it’s quick and easy to shift gears, not missing a beat on maintaining the regular work. When the unexpected happens, we shift gears and there is work that doesn’t get done, it’s missed, it’s delayed.
I mean not having enough space for shelter and services, enough bottled water in the summer, enough coats/hats/gloves in the winter, and the like to provide for the people we serve. At times, we have nothing to offer. That is real.
My nature is to set a high bar, to serve as many people as possible, to want to offer more services/more hours of the day/more days of the week, because the demand for help is overwhelming. Yet we do not “have enough” resource to pay our staff what they deserve, to hire enough staff to have wiggle room for the unexpected, to effectively serve our clients the way they deserve to be served. We cannot do it all.
We do more than we should, with not enough.
Please do not ask us to do more, with less.
Do, please, do ask us about how to volunteer, how to collaborate and partner, how to advocate, how to help more people stay housed (preventing homelessness), how to contribute.
Staying focused to the goal is difficult. Working together. Ending homelessness. It’s what we do. It’s why we are here. It’s worth our time. And we are doing it.
