City of Phoenix aims to extend outdoor shelter permit set to expire

The city of Phoenix is seeking to extend a special permit to continue operating the “Safe Outdoor Space” in downtown for another four years, with the current permit set to expire in October.

The SOS is located near 19th Avenue and Jefferson Street and allows up to 300 people experiencing homelessness to stay on the site, mostly in tents, under a shaded structure.

It includes 200 outdoor sites, 45 beds in air-conditioned space, a larger cooled room and offers services and meals for people at the site.

The SOS was created in 2023 after the city cleared out a large encampment of about 1,000 people living on the streets near what is now the Keys to Change campus, which hosts the state’s largest single adult homeless shelter.

Since its creation, the site has hosted more than 2,500 people, with 30% to 32% of them moving on to another program, shelter, family reconnection or another “positive outcome.”

People in need who stay at the SOS are referred to it from outreach teams rather than taking walk-ups.

According to Phoenix special projects administrator Margaret Adams, the site cost $4.8 million to operate last fiscal year.

Why does the city want to extend the outdoor shelter’s operations?

The city cites continued need amid a lack of affordable housing for its push to continue operations at the SOS for another four years.

Adams argued the SOS benefited many of the people who have stayed at the site, on average for 100 days, while avoiding disrupting the community around it.

“And so on both of those accounts, I think it’s really helped us think about wanting to extend operations and continue to improve the operations of the Safe Outdoor Space,” Adams told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Adams also emphasized the variety of services available at the SOS, including workforce development, substance use treatment, medical services, laundry and three meals a day.

“We’re really trying to just reconnect people with services as quickly as possible for folks who may be out in the community experiencing unsheltered homelessness,” Adams explained.

In terms of the roughly $4.8 million yearly price tag for the site, Adams said it’s far from cheap, but the city would rather be able to assist people at the site than have more people unsheltered on the streets.

Adams added the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions is focused on finding ways to expand affordable housing to prevent rather than just respond to homelessness.

That includes an upcoming hotel conversion that will create 126 affordable housing units, as well as a separate plan for the city to rent out housing units to people in need.

“We know that housing is what ends homelessness,” Adams said.

The city of Phoenix Planning Commission will decide on the SOS’ future at a 6 p.m. meeting on Thursday.

If approved, the proposal will then go before the Phoenix City Council for a final vote in September.

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