Arizona bill would provide $5 million for seniors-only emergency shelter

PHOENIX — There’s a growing number of homeless seniors in the Valley but not enough emergency shelters to take them in. A new state bill would help address that.

SB 1283 would provide $5 million from the state general fund for a new emergency shelter for people 55 and older.

The bill has the support of Lisa Glow, CEO of Central Arizona Shelter Services, also known as CASS.

“We need to do this quickly because if you just look around our county, it’s clear we’re in a crisis,” she said.

She said her group has seen the number of homeless seniors seeking shelter increase over the past several years. From July 2018 to June 2019, they had 1,313 homeless seniors stay at their shelter in downtown Phoenix. That’s up from about 1,100 three years prior.

Glow points to several reasons for the increase.

“The rents go up and they can no longer pay the rent,” she said. “It’s rent or medicine that they’re choosing between. They lose their jobs, and they’re becoming homeless for the first time in their lives.”

The CASS shelter for adults in downtown Phoenix has 470 beds. Glow said seniors usually take up one-third of those beds every night. But she said they’ve had to turn seniors away when there aren’t enough beds.

She said the new shelter created under SB 1283 would be “a real game changer” because not only would it provide more beds for seniors, but also would address their unique needs and provide specialized services.

The bill will have its first hearing at the Senate Appropriations Committee next week.

Cleo Lewis, who helps homeless seniors find emergency housing through CASS, agreed there’s a need for an emergency shelter for seniors.

“We have to have somewhere for them to go right now – not within three days, not within a week,” he said.

The issue is personal for him. The former police officer and veteran was homeless on and off for five years after he developed a drug addiction. He was able to turn his life around and find housing with the help of social workers he met through CASS.

“They actually changed my life by the way they addressed me,” he said. “They called me Mr. Lewis. They restored my dignity, and they took the extra time to find out why I was there.”

He said he wants other seniors to get the same help he did.

“We need to provide people a bridge to reengage and become a part of our community again,” he said.

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