By Mark Carlisle
Twitter: @mwcarlisle

As homelessness has grown in Glendale and across the Valley in recent years, Glendale is pivoting its strategy on addressing homelessness in the city.

City leaders want to redirect funds to emphasize groups that specifically help Glendale residents and can prove results. The city plans on funding more bed space at shelters so police can enforce laws around sleeping on public property and will also consider putting up signs to remind residents that they can donate to charities that address homelessness instead of giving to panhandlers.

City staff plans to return with an update on these topics in a City Council meeting this month or in February.

Room at shelters

The Supreme Court last month upheld a court ruling deeming it unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping on public property when there are no shelter beds or housing available. In response, the city is planning to emphasize putting federal grant funding toward making sure enough beds are available at shelters in and around the city so police can more aggressively enforce the urban camping ordinance, which bans people from sleeping outdoors, said Interim Deputy City Manager Rick St. John.

If local homeless shelters are full, Glendale police must allow people to sleeping or camp outside on public property. If there are beds available at shelters, police can force “urban campers” to be taken to a shelter or face a citation.

New funding philosophy

The city is also rethinking how it directs funds to local nonprofits that tackle homelessness and other issues by focusing on Glendale-centric groups and reviewing each groups’ efficiency.

“I’d like it looked at as partnerships — not just giving them money, but what are we getting, bang for our buck?” said Mayor Jerry Weiers.

The city receives several annual federal grant funds and a the city’s Community Development Advisory Committee, and ultimately City Council, decide which local nonprofits to donate the funds to to help address homelessness and other community issues. Local charities apply for the funds with a requested dollar amount. In the past, the city has granted a portion of the requested amount to nearly every group, granting the full requested amount to very few and granting nothing to very few.

Council has now agreed with staff’s recommendation to, moving forward, aim to fully fund as many groups as possible and be OK with turning some groups away entirely. The city plans to focus on groups that focus on Glendale residents, rather than Valley-wide groups, and those that can show a history of results.

“I think you’re right on target,” said Vice Mayor Joyce Clark of city staff’s recommendations change its philosophy on how it funds local nonprofits. “I think it’s about time we measured performance and gave to those who really are helping to make a difference in Glendale.”

Mr. St. John said nonprofits usually include a grand vision of what they’ll be able to do with the money they’re requesting but can seldom live up to that vision.

“They’re all fantastic applications,” he said. “And if they could all perform to the level of their writing, of what they put on paper, then we could solve homelessness if we could fund it even (partially)” as the city has in the past.

Under the city’s new philosophy, staff would review data to determine how charities have performed historically with the funds they’ve been given. Mr. St. John mentioned that for homeless shelters, they’d be examining metrics like how many people served or how many beds given.

Cholla District Councilwoman Lauren Tolmachoff noted that many of the charities that receive federal grant funds from the city do not address homelessness, such as Meals on Wheels. Mr. St. John said the new funding strategy will not be exclusive to addressing homelessness, but will for what groups do the most benefit for Glendale residents.

A growing issue

Homelessness has been on the rise in Glendale and across the Valley. The annual Point in Time Count, a federal program under which all U.S. municipalities record homeless people they can count on the same day, shows Glendale’s homeless number rising from 44 in 2015 to 57 in 2017 then shooting up to 164 in 2018 and 194 in 2019.

The dramatic jump between 2017 and 2018 can be largely attributing to the city conducting a more organized and more widespread count than in prior years, which showed a more accurate number than before. However, there likely was a homeless increase in addition to the change in the count’s accuracy, because many other Valley cities saw a jump that year as well, Mr. St. John said. Even if the 2017 to 2018 jump was an anomaly, the count jumped another 18% in 2019.

“What that tells me is we could probably be doing a better job of how we’re utilizing HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) funds that are given to the city through the federal government and what programs we’re funding and how centric those programs are on the city of Glendale,” Mr. St. John said.

Ms. Clark noted the public frustration around the efficiency of funds addressing Glendale’s homeless population. She noted that the federal funds Glendale receives for to address homelessness total about $1 million, and that the latest count showed 194 homeless people.

“Their thought is, ‘What are we doing with this money that we can’t get 194 people off the street?’ … (There’s a) general frustration among the public, seeing this kind of money being spent and the problem seems to grow rather than be solved.”

The count maps show most of the city’s homeless reside in the southern end of the city, in and around downtown. The 2019 count showed only two homeless people counted north of Bell Road and none counted north of Loop 101.

The 2020 Point in Time Count will take place Wednesday, Jan. 22.

In addition to spending money on more beds in homeless shelters, Council directed staff to move forward with staff’s recommendations to set aside funding for storage solutions and pet solutions, as homeless people will often refuse a shelter if it means getting rid of their belongings or pet. Glendale also plans to join a group aiming to create a regional effort to address homelessness on the west side, the West Valley Regional Solutions to Address Homelessness Resolution.

Panhandling

While no decision has been made, City Council is also considering putting up signs around the city that would encourage people to donate to a homelessness charity instead of giving to panhandlers. Council leaned toward signs that said “It’s OK not to give to panhandlers” and suggesting an alternative than telling residents not to give to panhandlers.

They discussed which charities the signs could encourage residents to donate to and how they could donate. Barrel District Councilman Bart Turner suggested including a phone number on that people could text to instantly donate.

The signs were also discussed as a way to discourage, and potentially even end, panhandling in Glendale.

“If we can make it less productive for them to be panhandling in public, that helps them then move to getting the services that are available in the community. And I think that’s the goal of it,” Mr. Turner said. “Plus, you know, it’s detrimental to the daily lives of the rest of our community. It has a negative impact on them and their ability to enjoy their life when they’re dealing with panhandling on a regular basis. It doesn’t even have to be aggressive. It diminishes their sense of a quality of life. And we have to be watchful for that, too. That’s part of our responsibility.”

Mark Carlisle can be reached at mcarlisle@newszap.com or found on Twitter @mwcarlisle.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Daily Independent
@mwcarlisle

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Mark is passionate about accurately informing his readers to what is happening in their community. He also loves reading and writing about sports. Mark has worked for Independent Newsmedia for five years. He married his high school sweetheart, adopted a boxer mix, and awaits his first child.