In recent years, Maricopa County has seen a spike in homelessness. The 2025 Point-In-Time count reported 9,734 people experiencing homelessness, a three percent increase from 2024 and a 47% increase from 2019.
Concerns about the homeless population have also risen in the Sun Cities. To address this, District 4 Supervisor Debbie Lesko hosted a town hall March 13, at the Sundial Recreation Center, 14801 N. 103rd Ave., with County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, Undersheriff Jeff Gentry and Assistant County Managers Darcy Kober and Marcy Flanagan. The panel spoke about the role each individual plays along with what can and can’t be done concerning the situation.
Mitchell opened the town hall by saying it is not illegal to be homeless nor is it illegal to panhandle. Individuals break the law when they start obstructing traffic on the road, create a hazard on the sidewalk or are panhandling “aggressively.” According to Gentry, panhandlers cannot refuse to take “no” for an answer and they can’t demand money after cleaning a driver’s car.
She recommended not giving money to panhandlers, and instead donating to charities or organizations that can help these individuals.
“Unfortunately, the prosecutor in me knows that when you give somebody money, there’s a fairly good chance that money is going to a place that you don’t want it to go,” she said. “A lot of times, that can be to feed a drug addiction.”
Sun Cities residents have also made many complaints about homeless individuals camping out at Fry’s Food and Drug. Because that is a private property, it is up to the owner to file an official complaint. When stores like Fry’s call the sheriff’s office, deputies respond on site and can take appropriate action.
Maricopa County officials also depend on residents reporting these kinds of things. In recent months there have been reports of individuals defecating on sidewalks and showering in the ponds at golf courses. Without residents reporting this to the county, it would likely go unnoticed.
“We rely on you guys when you see something,” Lesko said. “When it’s private property like that, talk to the management or the staff inside.”
Residents can call MCSO’s non-emergency number to report this: 602-876-1011.
The county’s aim, according to Flanagan, is to get the homeless population off the street and give them the help they may need. The county has a program called Hand in Hand where team members will go into the community to speak with homeless individuals, offering them sheltering services, transportation, food and medical care, among other things.
“We provide a lot of education and case management after we get them into those resources to ensure that they’re successful,” she said. Hopefully they don’t end up back out on the street. That’s the end goal for us and the departments I oversee.”
She added that a general misconception of homeless people is that they just don’t want help, saying she thinks most of them do want to get off the street but are hesitant that it may be a one-time offer or interaction.
“The reality is, it takes them building trust,” she said. “It takes our staff members several encounters, usually, with the individual because they worry about it turning into a criminalized action or asking them to do something that they’re not ready to do like go into treatment… If they want treatment, we certainly encourage that and we talk about treatment when they’re ready to go to treatment.”
Tamara Bridwell, director of the Human Services Department for Maricopa County, said the county has put $128 million towards affordable housing units, but has found some trouble with this. She added the county has built 3,500 affordable housing units.
“It really started in 2008 with the Great Recession,” she said. “We weren’t able to build as many houses to keep up with the demand and we haven’t really caught up. So we’re still far behind, but the board of supervisors has been prioritizing building more affordable housing and we’re hopeful that we can continue to do that and find more resources for that.”
Maricopa County officials said efforts like outreach programs, enforcement and affordable housing investments are all part of addressing homelessness, but acknowledged the issue is complex and unlikely to have a quick solution.
“This is just a growing problem and it’s a sad problem for the people that are enduring this and drugs or whatever’s happening in their life,” Lesko said. “And me, I have sympathy for people and I want to help them but also I know that if I hand out and give them money, that’s going to hurt the problem.”
Reporter Zev Black can be reached at zblack@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Community: I live in Phoenix but am covering Sun City and the Arizona Biltmore area.
Education: I graduated from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2025 with a bachelor's degree in sports journalism.
Random Fact: My little league all-star team was a win away from reaching the juniors Little League World Series. The next season, we were two wins away from the same feat.
Hobbies: I love spending any amount of time outside! Whether that's hiking, swimming, playing catch with friends or just sitting in the sun, you can almost always find me doing something in nature.
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