Arizona is outpacing most of the country when it comes to rising homelessness, according to a recent report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The agency's Homelessness Assessment to Congress analyzes data from annual Point in Time (PIT) counts of people experiencing homelessness around the country.
It concluded that nationwide homelessness rose by less than one percent from 2020 to 2022. During that same time frame in Arizona, it increased by 23%.
The numbers were no surprise to Katie Gentry, the Regional Homelessness Program Manager for the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) which conducts the Valley's PIT counts.
"We are seeing the fastest increase in rents in the entire country," said Gentry. "Rents have increased 68% In the last five years. And that makes it very difficult for people to stay in their homes and not experience homelessness."
The report also showed an increase in specific populations.
For 2022, the Phoenix Metro area was fifth in the nation for family homelessness in actual numbers with a total of 1,946.
Arizona also has one of the largest increases in unaccompanied youth, with a change of 44.9% from 2020 to 2022.
HUD defines unaccompanied youth as people ages 18 to 25 who are not part of a family unit. A total of 917 were counted in Arizona.
Gentry says part of the reason the numbers are so high is that the agency has done a better job of identifying where youth actually are. But advocates say the actual number of high school and college-age kids experiencing homelessness by themselves is even higher than the report suggests.
"Probably about 70% of those kids are couch surfing and HUD does not consider that as homeless," said Dawn Bogart, Co-CEO of Homeless Youth Connection (HYC)."But the thing is that youth is actually couch surfing between probably three and four families."
The agency serves youth ages 13 to 21 who are experiencing homelessness.
Bogart told ABC15 that people in this age group end up without stable housing for several reasons.
"Probably the most common is when you have a mother and father who get divorced. And then they get a new boyfriend or spouse or girlfriend, and they that person doesn't necessarily like the children," Bogart said. "So, they say, 'Hey, can you go down and stay at Tommy's for the weekend?' That weekend turns into a week, turns into the next six months."
She said sometimes they are children of parents that struggle with drug addiction, "and the kids are tired of not having food on the table."
"A lot of our kids — about 40% nationwide — are LGBTQ kids, and their families don't agree with their choices. And so, they're kicked out," she said.
Other times, once the child turns 18 years old, the family stops financial support.
"Their families think that they've done their responsibility, and they either kick the kids out or start charging them rent. But the kids don't have employment or life skills in order to be able to take care of themselves."
HYC, which operates in the Valley and in Flagstaff, provides transitional housing for 18- to 21-year-olds but she said the majority of kids served are 13- to 17-year-olds in high school.
"If we can help them graduate, help them get into employment or go on to post-secondary education, the chances of them going into chronic homelessness down the street really is a lot lower," Bogart said.
The agency said the program has about a 95% success rate of youth graduating high school.
In 2022, of 120 seniors, Bogart said 111 graduated high school.
"Of those, 80% ended up going on to post-secondary education, enlisting into the military, or going into the workforce," she said.
But for hundreds of homeless youth, those outcomes are not possible.
In Maricopa County, people with the most housing barriers — chronically homeless or mentally ill, for example — are a higher priority for help.
"When we just do not have enough resources, that is the direction that happens," Gentry said. "Is a youth who has been homeless for three months a higher priority than somebody who has been homeless for a year? I don't know."
In the current system, they are not.
Still, Gentry said the increase in homelessness of this magnitude also means an increase in desperately needed attention.
"We have federal, state, and local partners all saying this is a problem that we need to address," she said.
For HYC, the increase means more opportunities to help.
"Now the kids are at least being identified. Before they weren't identified," Bogart said. "When I see the numbers, at least I know that we have a chance to intervene and provide the resources, so they don't end up in that chronic situation."
