On a Tuesday in January each year, cities and counties throughout the United States perform a Point-In-Time Count to get an estimate of how many people are experiencing homelessness in their area. Early in the morning, volunteers survey unhoused and unsheltered individuals. Collected data is then reported to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which uses this information to determine the amount of federal resources they will allocate to each Continuum of Care to help eradicate homelessness.

The recently published 2024 report for Maricopa County found that 9,435 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County. This number indicates a slight decline of 2%, or about 200 people when compared to 2023. The biggest shift was in the sheltered-to-unsheltered comparison indicating the number of people sleeping unsheltered dropped by 17%. The morning of the count, 4,076 people were found sleeping in places not meant for habitation. Conversely, the number of people sleeping in shelters rose 13% to 5,359 individuals. While there is still work to be done in the prevention and eradication of homelessness, it is heartening to see an increase in the number of people sleeping in shelters.

Shelter can be a helpful step in ending someone’s homelessness. It can provide an opportunity for safe rest, food, clothing, hygiene, and basic health care. More importantly, it can be the entryway to receiving additional resources to end one’s homelessness. In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to increase the number of available shelter beds in the Valley. Through Valley of the Sun United Way’s MC2026 plan for Mighty Change, more than $4.3 million has been contributed to support shelter services in Maricopa County.

Nevertheless, the need to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring persists. Since 2010, there has been a precipitous drop in the number of affordable housing units. In 2023, only 6% of available housing was priced between $500-$1,000. This adversely effects many individuals—especially young adults and seniors—who have limited incomes and have found themselves priced out of the market.

This past March, the Maricopa County Continuum of Care reported that more than 1,000 households entered homelessness for the first time. To solve homelessness, people need homes, and part of the solution is keeping people in their current homes. To help stem the tide of people entering homelessness—currently 19 people entering homelessness for every 10 exiting—Valley of the Sun United Way will focus on homelessness prevention. Becoming unhoused is traumatic, and once entered, it becomes difficult to end. Additionally, children who experience homelessness are more likely to experience homelessness as an adult, making this a generational issue to solve. These are just a few reasons why programs like Valley of the Sun United Way’s Mighty Families program are so critical in our community.

This summer, Valley of the Sun United Way will host a Housing and Homelessness Summit with providers and other community partners, including funders, corporate partners, community leaders and advocates, and other nonprofit agencies working on homelessness prevention. Learnings from this summit will guide and inform Valley of the Sun United Way’s future efforts in the reduction of homelessness across Maricopa County. For more information about the upcoming Housing and Homelessness Summit, please contact us.

Get Involved

Be sure to follow @myvsuw on social media and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter at vsuw.org to stay up-to-date on the state of homelessness in Maricopa County and the progress being made toward our community’s Bold Goals for Mighty Change. You can also support community efforts to enact change among those experiencing homelessness with a donation to Valley of the Sun United Way’s Heat Relief Campaign through June 30! Your donation will provide much-needed heat relief items such as a cooling towels, reusable water bottles, and more for individuals experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County. Donate today at vsuw.org/heatrelief.

Samantha Jackson is the community development and engagement director for housing and homelessness at Valley of the Sun United Way. She can be reached at sjackson@vsuw.org. Learn more about Valley of the Sun United Way’s work to ensure everyone can have a safe place to call home here.