An effort to address the causes of homelessness in Pima County will soon enter a new phase. Pima County and the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah are preparing to implement a grant to help solve the homelessness epidemic in our county.
According to county officials, the county is very fortunate to be able to have access to it. The $1.3 million grant's primary goal is to allow chronically homeless people to find and maintain stable housing while they get back on their feet. The process to obtain the grant has not been easy, it has been several years in the making, however it is finally in it's final stages.
Last week, a team from the Sorenson Impact Center, which is partnering with the county, visited Tucson to seek comments from private-sector leaders, frontline service providers and the public's comment. The team is currently wrapping up the preliminary assessment and planning portion of their work, which will eventually allow them to begin a final feasibility study and a cost-benefit analysis for the project. The completion of that analysis is expected around the first of the year.
The federal "Pay for Success" Supportive Housing Demonstration Grant. the first of its kind in Arizona, aims to reduce the burden of the homelessness issue on the criminal justice and emergency healthcare systems.
The next and final piece in the planning puzzle, according to the county, will be determining the target population and the types of services that will be provided through that grant.
