Housing costs, stagnant wages increasing homelessness in Glendale
Annual count shows city’s homeless numbers up 139% in 2 years
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HOW TO HELP
If you see someone experiencing homelessness in Glendale that may be in need of assistance, use the GlendaleOne service request system at glendaleone.com and the service request type “Homelessness” and the city will send someone to attempt contact. Families or individuals in need of services can also call directly to 623-207-8902 at any time of day or night. Please note, this telephone number is exclusive to people in Glendale experiencing homelessness.
It’s undeniable that the volatile real estate market is greatly impacting buyers and sellers. But it’s more than a typical real estate tale where home values are inflated and housing inventory is rarer than Valley rain.
There’s a growing population segment caught in the middle, or, maybe more accurately, toward the bottom.
Honest, hard workers who can’t find an affordable place to live.
Some are adding growing numbers not to sales rolls but to the homeless population, including in Glendale.
“It’s not the chronic homeless population that I think most people equate to,” Jean Moreno, Glendale’s executive officer for strategic initiatives and special projects, said Wednesday of the city’s growing homeless community. “It’s a lot of families and a lot of numbers of seniors that we’re fielding on a regular basis.”
The numbers were striking when they came out this month.
The Point-in-Time (PIT) Unsheltered Street Count numbers were released, and they are staggering. PIT is an annual street and shelter count to determine the number of people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County during a given point in time, and is coordinated by the Maricopa Association of Governments.
Glendale had the highest jump among large Valley cities, with a homeless population increase of 139% since the 2020 PIT, going from 170 to 406. The pandemic canceled the 2021 count.
Job losses during COVID fueled some of the spread, but employment has bounced back. Statewide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an unemployment rate of 13.9% in April of 2020 — in the pandemic’s earliest stages — had dropped dramatically to 3.6% this past February during a period of 22 consecutive months of either declining or static unemployment.
Maricopa County also is trending better. The country’s fourth most populous county shows an unemployment rate of 3.6% in February, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority, which is down from a year ago and better than the national average of 3.8%.
Arguably the biggest impact to the unsheltered community, along with stagnant wages, has been a housing and rental market that is quite literally pricing out people, including those gainfully employed.
The Wall Street Journal reported March 29 that Phoenix had the fastest home-price growth in the country for the 32nd straight month, at 32.6%, continuing its record streak in the top spot. Meanwhile, Apartmentfinder.com shows the average rent in Glendale sits at $1,362 as of March 31.
“We’re seeing a lot more of that. People are just getting priced out of their unit because of these increases in rent,” Moreno added. “That’s when we see people who end up living in their cars and things like that.”
Few studies offer more of an impact analysis than that of Elliott D. Pollack & Co., and its well-known Arizona economist namesake.
Pollack compiled the report “Current State of the Greater Phoenix Housing Market” earlier this year, sponsored by the Home Arizona organization and using sources that include The Cromford Report, a daily Greater Phoenix residential estate market analyst; the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity; the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Apartmentlist.com; and Elliott D. Pollack & Company.
Data were compiled into a chart to illustrate how affordable — or unaffordable — housing is throughout the Valley broken down by city.
By comparing the average salaries of common, essential professions against median housing prices, the study determined affordability based on housing that comprises 30% of an annual salary.
Glendale looks like this, according to 2021 housing cost data and the salary needed to afford it in parentheses:
Median home price of $385,000 ($82,200)
A two-bedroom rental at $1,430 ($57,200)
A one-bedroom rental at $1,132 ($45,300)
At those data points, and with the common, essential professions and their salaries studied, only a resident employed as a nurse could afford to buy a home in Glendale. Only a police officer would be able to afford renting a two-bedroom unit; a firefighter, teacher, chef and construction worker could afford to rent a one-bedroom; and a waitperson and retail worker could afford none of the options.
The retail worker is especially jarring considering the retail tax revenue Glendale receives. Sales taxes are the largest source of unrestricted revenues for Glendale, and retail contributes the biggest portion of that revenue, at 56.7% of sales tax collections in FY2021, according to an Applied Economics study presented to the City Council this past December.
Yet, retail workers, according to the housing cost study by the numbers, cannot afford to buy or even rent in the city.
“There are a lot of professions that we need in our community — people who work in our bars and restaurants — that need affordable places to live and that they can attain with the wage they are earning,” Moreno said.
While the Wall Street Journal noted the nation’s leading housing increase of 32.6% in Phoenix, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average weekly wages in Maricopa County ($1,209) is below the U.S. average and ranks 104th nationwide. Meanwhile, average weekly wages in Maricopa County increased 6.1% from the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021.
“From our perspective the rising cost of housing and the wages that just haven’t kept pace with the price of housing in our region I think are the biggest issues that are driving the increases that we’re seeing in homelessness,” Moreno noted. “What we’re seeing in our region right now is less of the chronically homeless and more of first-time homeless people.”
Social services in Glendale have helped greatly.
The city entered into grant agreements with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for financial assistance to conduct the Community Development Block Grant Program. A one-time funding of $3.2 million goes through June 30, 2023.
Glendale has contracted with Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), which is responsible for administering the Glendale Homelessness Alliance. The effort brings together 15 agencies to create a full continuum of service and resources focused on preventing, intervening, and “working to achieve functional zero for homelessness in the City of Glendale,” as written in the city’s Master Services Agreement for Homelessness Services.
Since this past June the program has successfully placed more than 230 clients with permanent housing, and has provided more than 9,000 units of service including over 2,000 shelter bed nights.
Services are also available at the Norton Ramsey Social Justice Empowerment Center, 7031 N. 56th Ave., Glendale.
Also, A New Leaf’s West Valley Family Care Clinic offers community-based behavioral health and medical services for children and adults, along with support services for clients. A New Leaf is located at 8581 N. 61st Ave., Building A, Glendale, and is available online at TurnANewLeaf.org/Get-Started or by calling 602-595-8700 (families) and 877-211-8661 (individuals).
Moreno will update the Council in May about the program’s agreement with CASS.
“The situation with homelessness in our community is not going to go away just because we’re providing homeless services,” she said. “We have to increase affordable housing.”
Steve Stockmar News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net @stevestockmar
Meet Steve Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
Point-In-Time,
Maricopa Association of Governments,
MAG,
homeless,
homelessness,
Glendale,
Arizona,
Elliott D. Pollack,
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Maricopa County,
Housing and Urban Development,
Central Arizona Shelter Services,
Norton Ramsey Social Justice Empowerment Center,
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