‘More people falling off the cliff into homelessness’: Housing advocates share fears, possible solutions
Urban Land Institute Arizona hosted a 2023 Trends Day event that included a panel discussion on housing that included over 1,000 developers, planners, real estate experts and government and business leaders. They lamented high prices and a rise in homelessness: Maricopa County’s point-in-time count in 2023 found a 72 percent increase in the homeless population since 2017, up to 9,642 people. A report from Vitalyst Health Foundation outlined the progress being made in affordable housing and among nonprofits, but as former Arizona Housing Department Director Tom Simplot stated, “We’re not building our way out of this fast enough.”
