Encampment Resolution Strategies

In 2022, AzHAC team members received a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide critical evaluation of the effectiveness of select homeless encampment response strategies in Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma counties, incorporating the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness, service providers, and community leaders. 

Results from this project will provide actionable and practical information to those working to address homelessness in cities with large unsheltered populations and in turn, to the unsheltered homeless population through improved service coordination and provision. This community-engaged research project was conceptualized in partnership with community stakeholders across Arizona .

This project has three phases: 

Phase 1: Document what is known about encampment resolution strategies and their effectiveness in the three largest Arizona counties. Using mixed methods, this environmental scan describes encampment resolution approaches and their known outcomes in Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties.

Phase 2: Document the experiences and impact of encampment resolution strategies among people experiencing homelessness.Using structured open-ended questions, we are engaging with 300 people living in encampments to learn about their perspectives on resolution strategies, including experiences of trauma, social support, and interactions with systems and services that are helpful, missing, or ineffective. 

Phase 3: Evaluate the effectiveness of three encampment resolution strategies in Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties. Using mixed methods and of primary and secondary data, we

will evaluate the impact of these strategies on client, agency, community, and policy outcomes over a one-year period. 

AzHAC Team: Sara Shuman, Keith Bentele, Lara Law, Micaela Mercado, Kristin Ferguson

Community-based Team: Ash Uss, From the Ground Up