PHOENIX — It’s been two weeks since the city of Phoenix completed their final cleanup of the Zone. The area now looks far different than it did in the summer.
But while the tents may be gone, the people aren't.
“The people that are here are hard chargers. This is their life. It’s the only thing they know so they're going to keep coming back,” said Kimberly Brazil.
She moved from the Zone into a shelter at 28th Street and Washington earlier this year. Now she’s moved back outside.
“About three months was all I could handle,” Brazil said. “Unfortunately, I feel safer on the outside than I do on the inside.”
“Certainly we have had individuals returning to homelessness, who felt the shelter placement was not the right placement for them,” said the Director of the City of Phoenix Office of Homeless Solutions Rachel Milne.
The city told ABC15 they brought nearly 600 people into the shelter. A small minority of them have made their way back outside with hotspots around the city.
“Right now our focus is really those areas just outside of downtown, just outside of the Human Services Campus area,” Milne said.
ABC15 crews saw dozens of people around the area. A handful were trying to sleep. Brazil says some nights are really tough. After all, no one plans to be here.
“I worked 30 years in the medical field and then I was unable to work because of my lung disease. Then I applied for social security and I’ve been fighting them for two years,” Brazil said. “So it is just like what do you do? You don’t have income, no family, what is there to do?”
Even as the hardships mount, she dreams of better days.
“It is very hard, very hard. I push myself because I don’t want to be here all my life because I deserve better.”
The city is hoping to bring nearly 800 new permanent shelter beds online in the new year, aiming to begin opening them in February or March.
