Catching Up With Social & Housing Advancement - Nov. 14, 2024

Greater Downtown Phoenix is evolving exponentially, and nowhere is this gradual evolution of strategies apparent than in our monthly Social & Housing Advancement Committee (SHA) meetings.

Every month, our SHA Committee Chairs lead a robust agenda for the latest public and private initiatives to elevate resources to address the affordable housing crisis. As with other Committees, the items encourage further dialogue and collaboration well after the meetings have concluded.

Read on to learn what you missed at the November meeting! To learn more about this fundamental Member benefit, contact our Membership Services Director, Brandon Ramsey , at [email protected]

?? Meet the Civilian Review Board — Under the City of Phoenix 's Office of Accountability and Transparency, the civilian oversight board reviews complaints brought before the police officers. While the board cannot influence an active investigation of cases, it provides a neutral setting for recommendations to improve rules and procedures, such as racial bias training. Since February, the board has filed 15 reports, while 115 cases are currently being monitored, all of which are viewed on the City of Phoenix Website.

?? The Arizona Housing Fund (AHF) Turns Five — It wasn't too long ago that the AHF founder, Howard Epstein , floated his idea for the fund in our small conference room during the early days of SHA. Now, almost four people a day donate to this fund, which has already dispersed $1.7M in equity grants to nonprofits specializing in supportive housing projects.

FYI: If you want to learn more about this initiative and its PCA connection, read our City-Shapers profile on Epstein from 2023!

?? Downtown Phoenix (DPI) Initiatives - The meeting of SHA provided the appropriate venue to premiere two vital initiatives for a healthy #DTPHX community in the coming years:

For more than a year, DPI's marketing team has further refined a campaign called "We're in this Together.” It’s final form is a concise yet comprehensive guide of resources for individuals experiencing homelessness and their allies. The campaign is visible through various mediums to direct ground-floor businesses, community members, and affected individuals toward service providers and solutions.

In the weeks ahead, a new Community Resource Hub will open below the DPI/PCA offices at CityScape to administer a variety of trailblazing services whether a public transit rider needing assistance (Valley Metro) or someone seeking behavioral health assistance services (City of Phoenix’s Community Assistance Program (CAP), or a place for individuals experiencing homelessness to turn (DPI’s dehp Integrative Care 's Outreach Navigators), this will soon be a nexus point in the fifth largest city in the country.