Late last year, the city of Phoenix launched an initiative called Phoenix C.A.R.E.S. to provide services for the homeless and to find long-term solutions by sending trained outreach teams onto the streets.
Part of the program funds teams of people to clean up homeless encampments, and this month, more money was added to the city manager’s proposed budget for those efforts.
Since the program began, outreach teams have made contact with nearly 400 individuals, 277 of them have accepted services and 10 percent were placed in permanent housing. The added funds are meant to increase the percentage of clients who are connected to permanent housing up to 30 percent.
For more on what the program has accomplished so far — and what’s next — The Show talked to Chris Hallett, director of the Neighborhood Services Department for the City of Phoenix.
