The Maricopa County Regional Homeless Court was established to resolve outstanding misdemeanor warrants for individuals demonstrating a significant commitment to ending their homelessness. People who owe fines for victimless crimes such as “camping” can use their time in transitional programs to complete community service hours in exchange for having their fines waived. Very often it is this burden that can keep an individual homeless. After their fines have been waived they can start fresh on their path to self-sufficiency.
While the pandemic prevented Homeless Court from being in-person at the Human Services Campus, clients continued to utilize this service remotely at a very reduced capacity as the Courts were not able to handle the same number of cases. Now they can participate on Campus, where Homeless Court resumed in the Lodestar Day Resource Center in July.
Like many social service agencies that advocate with clients through the Homeless Court process, HSC has an advocate that works with people accessing services on the Human Services Campus to walk alongside them. With the Court being in person for July, our HSC Advocate had 11 clients on the docket compared to zero for the previous six months!
Clients are incredibly grateful for this service. And the HSC is grateful for our partnership with Maricopa County in this effort that transforms lives.
