One month until deadline, hundreds remain in 'The Zone'
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A judge this week denied the city of Phoenix’s request for more time to clear the area downtown known as "The Zone." The city now has just one month left to find shelter for the hundreds of people still living in the region's largest homeless encampment.
Earlier this year there were nearly 800 unsheltered people estimated to be living in the Zone. After several months of efforts to connect people with shelter, recent counts have estimated the encampment's population has fallen to about 500.
But across metro Phoenix, people are still entering homelessness at nearly twice the rate they are finding shelter, according to a recent homelessness trend report from the Maricopa Association of Governments.
“Even when the city finishes the task that they were ordered to do, there are still going to be 5,000 people waiting for housing in Maricopa County," said Amy Schwabenlender, CEO of the Human Services Campus, whose facilities are at the center of the Zone. “I hope people don’t lose sight of the fact that whatever happens right here around us with the next 500 people that are unsheltered, that’s not the totality of adult homelessness in Maricopa County."
Schwabenlender said it’s hard to guess what will happen on Nov. 4 when the court-ordered deadline arrives for the city to clear the Zone.
She said as the city posts more "no camping" notices throughout the area, blocks where people are still camped are becoming crowded.
"People are cramming in where they can looking for somewhere safe to be,” Schwabenlender said.
