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Some Homeless Not Included In Maricopa County's Point-In-Time Count

Homeless Count
Lauren Gilger/KJZZ
/
file | staff
Volunteers during the Maricopa Association of Governments point-in-time count in 2016.

Last week, the Maricopa Association of Governments released its 2018 homeless  Point-in-Time Count. The report found an increase in the overall number of people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County. 

There is a segment of homeless people, however, that were not accounted for.

Save the Family is the East Valley’s largest provider of transitional housing. Chief Program Officer Nicky Stevens said her organization mostly serves families with children. She said these are the “invisible homeless” families who are living in their cars or couch surfing, and not part of the count. 

"And it’s often something we don’t look at or see, they’re not going to be the guy on the corner with the sign because they’re afraid their children could be taken away and have DCS called," Stevens said.

She added that the lack of affordable housing and high eviction rates are part of the problem. Last year there were 25,000 evictions in Maricopa County. 

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.