Homeless people in Tucson are struggling to get services. The city wants to change that

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article included an incorrect title for Jason Thorpe.

Travis Baldwin has been living on the streets for six months, most recently by the Alamo Wash on the east side of Tucson. He's had trouble accessing services because he does not have a phone, and getting transportation is difficult.  

Baldwin on a late Friday morning recounted his experience while sitting next to his sister-in-law, KK Stock, on black couch cushions under a mesquite tree.

“A lot of it has to do with people signing up for services, and then they don't have their phones or a way to get back down there,” Stock said, noting how buses often refuse to stop for them.

Baldwin and Stock’s personal experiences match the findings of a recent University of Arizona report, which revealed many homeless people in Tucson are not able to access housing services, despite wanting them.

The 2023 Homeless Needs Assessment is a report gathered by the university’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women that surveyed more than 389 homeless adults on the west side of Tucson.

The assessment found that 40% of the people surveyed had never completed a housing assessment, the first step required to access services in Tucson. Of those who had completed an assessment, 58% are still waiting to hear back about their application.

“That is a huge red flag for me, which means that people don't know how to get to services, and they don't know that they need to do this,” said Keith Bentele, the lead researcher on the project. He noted that one caveat to this data point is that some people who may have taken the assessment might not have known what it was.

The data shows an additional 13% of respondents who took the housing assessment were offered services but were not able to access them, and 13% received the services they were seeking.

According to the city, housing services are provided through a variety of federal grant programs. Funding is distributed to local nonprofit organizations to provide a range of services, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, and other services.

But Jason Thorpe, the interim deputy director of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, said the city has taken immediate action on a few key issues brought up in the report.

“We were especially interested in commissioning this report to learn directly from people experiencing homelessness about their needs and access to existing community resources,” he said.

He noted there was an insufficient number of housing resources but said the city is working to increase housing navigation services to better connect people who will not be prioritized for housing.

Why some cannot access services

The housing assessment is called the Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization and Decision Assessment Tool. It places people surveyed on a community-wide list for housing, where the most vulnerable are prioritized.

People who complete a housing assessment can wait days, weeks, or indefinitely for a call back from a caseworker, Bentele said.

“The system is enormously complex. Eligibility is contingent and it can take a lot of time or a caseworker to figure out not just if someone is eligible, but if there are any resources actually available,” Bentele said.

For others, like Baldwin, access to a phone and transportation are barriers to using the region's housing services.

The report found that 69% of respondents said they would like to live alone, or in housing with their partner or family. Just 8% said they would want to live in any type of housing available, such as shelters.

Bentele noted there are many reasons people might not want congregant shelters. Some shelters require people to separate from their partners and pets and relinquish their phones. Many shelters also often require residents to be sober, a big ask for short-term housing, he said.

Other people might avoid congregant housing options because they have trauma associated with being in a shelter, he said.

Thorpe noted the city continues to hear from homeless residents about the importance of "low-barrier, low-demand" shelters, or shelters with fewer conditions to be eligible for a bed.

"We are continuing to operate and seeking to expand our existing hotel-based shelter operations as well as looking at opportunities to increase congregate shelter in the Tucson area using federal and state funds," he said.

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Why Tucson’s homeless population continues to increase

The most recent point-in-time count, which counts the number of homeless households on a single night, found the total number of those living in shelters, transitional housing, or on the streets on Jan. 24 in Tucson stood at 1,666. That's up 60% from 2018's one-night count.

The university's assessment found the most common causes for homelessness were related to financial hardship, with 42% of respondents citing eviction, trouble with employment, and expensive rent or lack of financial support from their family as primary reasons for homelessness.

The report also showed 18% of respondents said their substance use, or the lack of accessibility to treatment for existing substance or mental health issues, was the reason why they were homeless.

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Bentele said this data shows that while some homeless people do have issues with addiction, it is not the primary reason they first become homeless.

“Substance users are overrepresented in homelessness. But that is because of the availability, and the conditions of homelessness,” he said.

Bentele reiterated that substances are often used as a coping mechanism for the challenges of living on the streets or for dealing with other issues like mental health or chronic disease.

Stock reaffirmed drug use does stop people from seeking help.

"People are getting high and they're scared to go in because they're embarrassed. They feel like people look down on them," she said. "People want to get clean, but they can't do it without a place to stay."

More help is needed to keep people in stable housing

For the needs assessment, researchers also conducted five focus groups featuring homeless people this year. Bentele said the most common recommendation from the focus groups was for more help navigating the system.

The participants told him caseworkers often used system jargon that was hard to understand, or that they were given incorrect information. They also recommended service providers offer help to people after they receive housing to prevent them from returning to homelessness.

After the city learned how many homeless people were previously housed in various housing programs, Thorpe said it launched a pilot program to "provide short-term rental arrears assistance for people receiving public housing to prevent eviction due to non-payment."

Thorpe also said the city is working to address the issues with the housing assessment tool. It is seeking to make it shorter, with a goal of contacting households within 90 days if they have been prioritized for housing.

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Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com.

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