MESA, AZ — After seeing a steady increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, the city of Mesa is now starting to turn things around.
According to the annual Point-In-Time Homelessness Count done by the Maricopa Association of Governments, there are 366 people living on the streets of Mesa as of 2023. That's a drop from 2022.
ABC15's Javier Soto first talked with Mesa Mayor John Giles during an in-depth roundtable on Homelessness back in June. The city of Mesa's success in addressing the problem stood out during the discussions. So, we wanted to follow up with the mayor to learn more about how they got here.
"You see 'The Zone.' You see any time you travel to California or the Northern Pacific, or any big city in the United States, many cities in Texas and it's just everywhere. It's ubiquitous. You know, tent cities and encampments and you're overwhelmed by homelessness. So, that's [...] that's where we might end up. So, I think it's important that we run as fast as we can to the front of this problem and do everything we can to avoid that," said Mayor Giles.
He tells us while Mesa doesn't have any big homeless encampments right now, it's important for the city to stay ahead of the issue by continuing to enforce laws banning urban camping while also offering services to people who need them.
"We have a motel on East Main that we want to acquire that will be a legacy from the pandemic that for generations, we'll be able to point to as something good that came out of the pandemic. Our community court program, where rather than taking a punitive approach to enforcing laws, we use it as a way to get services to people," said Giles.
The city's 'Community Court' program offers people who are cited for urban camping access to resources like temporary housing and mental health services.
"When you talk about wraparound services what are we talking about?" asked Soto.
"We have a housing-first approach, right? We want to get people off the streets. We want to get people out of, off, the park benches. So, we do want to give people a cot and a roof over their head. That's important, but that's not how they're going to progress. And so, the services that we offer in the Off the Streets program and in Community Court are, yes let's get a roof over your head. Let's get you out of the alley. But part and parcel of that is you're going to sit down with people and we're going to explore options for you and how we can help you progress, you know, along a path to get a more permanent solution to the challenges you're facing."
Mesa's Strategy to address homelessness also relies on nonprofits and church organizations working together to help people get the resources they need to get back on their feet.
"One of the things we're finding as we dig deeper into the homeless situation here across Arizona, is there are so many resources out there, but the resources aren't talking to each other. How were you able to bridge that gap and get people talking to each other so that they can all help together?" asked Soto.
"I wish I could say that we were perfect at that. We're not. Part of the challenge is you've got a lot of wonderful, well-intentioned people and church congregations and nonprofits that all feel compelled, you know, I would say by a God-given inducement, you know to say, 'We can't sit by and watch this happen in our community.' So, everybody is, you know, coming at this at the same time. So, that's part of the role of the city is to say, 'Hey we're not going to tell people how, how to do it, but let's convene, you know, together so we don't have a lot of silos.' And by doing that, a lot of these great faith groups and nonprofits, if they're just in the same room together and they're describing what they do, they see opportunities for collaboration, right? When it comes to food insecurity and housing of homeless, when people find out that there's another group that's doing something very similar, you know, they'll figure out ways to help each other," said Giles.
READ PART TWO: Mesa seeing success with 'Off the Streets' program despite pushback
