Local nonprofit Circle the City sees thousands of patients every year who are facing homelessness, whose numbers in Maricopa County have risen more than 70% since 2017.
Dr. Rebecca Moran sees patients at their downtown Family Health Center, where she said they’re looking forward to almost doubling the number of patient rooms with an expansion to the building.
“The healthcare system is incredibly frustrating for everybody,” said Moran. “But our patients have frustrations and barriers that most people do not have to deal with at all. And it just makes it that much more difficult for patients who already have that many more medical issues.”
For many of the patients she sees every day, Circle the City is their only source of health care, and now the operation is expanding.
“We’ll have eight more patient rooms here,” Moran said. “We’ve got consultation rooms for our behavioral health specialists because at the moment they see patients in the same rooms that the medical providers are.”
According to Moran, they’re hiring more providers to accommodate what she called the ever-growing need for space and services.
“If somebody is acutely suicidal and they can’t leave that patient, we can lose a room for hours,” said Moran. “Or if somebody needs to go to the hospital and we’re waiting for transport, we can lose a room.”
In a few months, she said, they hope to have things fully up and running.
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HUD planned to slash grants for permanent supportive housing. Advocates feared 1,400 formerly homeless Arizonans could end up back on the street as a result. Courts blocked the changes for now. -
People experiencing homelessness are more than 100 times more likely to die of heat than the general population in Maricopa County. -
Due to March’s record-breaking temperatures, Justa Center is extending their hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. — and they’ll also allow the general unhoused population inside. -
The Homeless ID Project is bringing its mobile kiosk to Tucson to demonstrate how they’ve provided their clients easier access to IDs around the Valley. -
The bill would provide $300,000 annually to the Arizona Department of Veteran Services to help provide funding for emergency shelters.
