UnAffordable and UnSheltered

A lot has changed in Arizona’s housing market since UnAffordable was published in 2019.  Two years later, Arizona's issues still include housing shortages, and now, more acute unaffordability. Hear how nonprofits and coalitions dedicated to helping Arizonans trying to find a decent place to live have experienced difficulties and success.  Plus, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods shares his personal struggle finding a home and his city's plans for developing affordable housing. 

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Sentences for misdemeanor crimes typically include fines and probation. While it's easy to say those sentences aren't harsh, for the poorest people in Arizona, the effects of these penalties often far outweigh the seriousness of their crimes. For the large number of Americans who are one unexpected expense away from losing everything, a fine or probation could be what makes them homeless. 

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It's not a crime to be homeless. But survival for unsheltered people sometimes means standing or sleeping in odd places, fighting to maintain space or belongings, and escaping the situation through drugs, all of which often lead to misdemeanor charges. Those who are arrested for low-level offenses like trespassing, disorderly conduct, or simple possession face a justice system where cases are disposed of in minutes, without access to legal counsel, and with lasting impacts on their ability to escape homelessness.

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The post-pandemic world will be a lot different from the pre-pandemic world. At this moment, nobody really knows what the next week will look like - let alone the next year. That uncertainty raises several challenges and questions for the organizations that serve unsheltered Arizonans.

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It's safe to argue that the COVID-19 pandemic is a disaster. And the way we prepare for, respond to and discuss disasters in the United States often excludes the homeless and poor - to their detriment. From emergency shelter to relief and recovery, disaster response isn't designed to include the homeless.

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Once someone ends up homeless, systematic and legal barriers make it exceedingly difficult to escape. A majority of homeless people find themselves involved with law enforcement, and managing a chronic medical condition is complicated by the realities of life on the streets. With a criminal record or a chronic illness, finding stable housing becomes nearly impossible.

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As volunteers hit the streets to count the numbers of unsheltered homeless in Maricopa County, Unsheltered will delve into why Phoenix has such a problem, what can be done about it, and why it's so hard to fix.

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There are many organizations in Arizona working to build affordable housing and support low-income people who need places to live. But all of these organizations say they can't keep up with the demands of the state's growing population and worsening housing shortage. In the final episode of this podcast, Katherine Davis-Young looks at what's already being done and what else the state would have to do to address its looming housing crisis. Plus, we learn how single mom Chanel found a solution to her own affordable housing problem. 

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We know we need more affordable housing in Phoenix, so why don't we just build it? In part four of this five-part podcast, host Katherine Davis-Young explores the massive costs and stymied sources of funding for affordable housing. Arizona used to put much more money toward affordable housing. We'll learn where the funding went, and the challenges to getting it back. 

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When we talk about the issue of housing, we’re talking about so much more than building one home for one person. Housing is a balancing act among the people who need places to live, the developers who build it, the city that makes the rules, and even neighbors who already live in a place. In part three of this five-part series, Katherine Davis-Young explains, as demand for housing in Phoenix keeps rising, all of the obstacles in the way of housing are only getting more complicated, and affordable housing...that might be the most complicated of all.

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