With an initial focus on unsheltered individuals sleeping on the streets surrounding the Campus, the HSC's Multi-Disciplinary Street Outreach Team is underway. In the month of August, the team engaged 71 people in services and development of a housing plan. The Street Outreach Team locates individuals to engage, assess, and triage people to a temporary location for care (options including, but not limited to, recovery program, medical respite bed, bridge bed, emergency shelter, and urgent psychiatric center).
While there are numerous reasons why people are sleeping on the street, one of the main reasons is a lack of shelter beds. The City of Phoenix recently approved increasing the number of beds on the Campus to 700; CASS is in the planning stages to renovate their space to increase their capacity from 425 to 600 beds. The renovations will take several months to complete.
The ultimate goal is to reduce the length of time people experience unsheltered homelessness. Once sheltered, the chances increase dramatically for individuals to move into permanent housing. Based on current data, it is anticipated that up to 50% of individuals engaged will need support and treatment for substance abuse. The HSC outreach team will connect these individuals to Community Bridges and/or other recovery programs. Those engaged who have physical disabilities and other medical conditions will be connected to Circle the City. Both of these HSC partners, CBI and CTC, currently have facilities and employees on the Campus.
HSC is working with Campus partners to join the Street Outreach efforts, making it a “multi-disciplinary” team. This holistic approach to street outreach is designed to increase the likelihood of engaging people in services and helping them move from street to home.
A big thanks to Blue Cross Blue Shield and Molina Healthcare for helping to fund a portion of this program! We are so grateful for your support!
