Better data and pooled resources could help reduce homelessness, four Arizona organizations say

Four major Arizona homeless service providers on Tuesday announced plans to join together on a new set of shared goals to reduce homelessness in the state.

Keys to Change, A New Leaf, Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), and UMOM New Day Centers are calling their new collaboration the Arizona Shelter Network.

“[Homeless service organizations] tend to be driven by what a funder asks us or requires us to do, we tend to follow the lead of government that pulls together a plan,” said Keys to Change CEO Amy Schwabenlender. “What’s different in the Arizona Shelter Network is that we created this, we’re self-organized, and we’re establishing our own goals.”

The state’s homeless shelters have collaborated for years, but the relationships have always been informal, Schwabenlender said. One shelter might just place a phone call to another shelter when trying to find a space for someone, for example.

And Schwabenlender said while the organizations use a common software to track unhoused individuals they serve, they do not have a system to see in real-time when shelter beds become available.

Together, the four collaborating organizations operate about half of the shelter beds in Maricopa County — more than 1,800 beds. Schwabenlender said one goal of the new collaboration will be to create a new database of those beds to more efficiently connect Arizonans to shelter.

“That means really tracking the vacancy of shelter across the region and referring people to appropriate shelter for their current situation and making sure when there’s a turnover and a vacancy, we’re filling that vacant bed as quickly as possible,” Schwabenlender said.

The four organizations are also setting goals to reduce shelter turn-aways by 5% and increase shelter utilization by 5% by the end of June. They also want to decrease the average length of time people stay in shelters 5% by January 2027.

CASS CEO Nathan Smith said the need is urgent, since homelessness is increasing in the state at a time when federal funding is being lost and shelter beds are disappearing.

“Imagine being a family living on the streets and, to get into shelter, hearing that the best shot that you have is potentially to have to wait for eight weeks because there are a couple hundred families ahead of you on that wait list,” Smith said.

The organizations also plan to start working together on advocacy and fundraising efforts.