A Safe Outdoor Space That Helped More Than 2,000 People Leave the Streets Could Close as Funding Expires
Phoenix is on track to run out of money to support one of its most successful solutions to unsheltered homelessness to date, and it could cause thousands of people to become homeless again.
For the last two years, Phoenix has operated a temporary campground, otherwise known as a “Safe Outdoor Space,” in downtown for people experiencing homelessness. The people who lived there used to live at a controversial encampment known as “The Zone,” where more than 800 people lived during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The four-acre site also includes all of the services people experiencing homelessness have access to when they stay at Phoenix-area shelters, Rachel Milne, who leads the city’s homelessness office, recently told NPR. Overall, more than 2,000 people have stayed at the temporary campsite since it opened in 2023.
But funding for the temporary campground is set to run out at the end of the year. It was initially funded with money from the American Rescue Plan Act, which required the money to be allocated by the end of 2026. About $6 million per year has gone to operating and maintaining the site. With that money now running out, the city is left with few options to continue operating the campground.
“The City of Phoenix Office of Homeless Solutions (OHS) is committed to continuing the Safe Outdoor Space and ensuring that this vital resource continues to operate and assist people in ending their homelessness,” a spokesperson from the City of Phoenix told Invisible People in an emailed statement. “During this year’s City of Phoenix budget process, OHS will be seeking general fund support to continue operations that were initiated with American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2023.”
Safe Outdoor Spaces Emerged as a Lifeline
Temporary campgrounds like the one in Phoenix became increasingly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as cities sought ways to mitigate the dangers of living in congregate shelters. Many of the sites combine wraparound services like case management, laundry services, and employment services with a safe place to sleep, even though guests at some sites still sleep in tents.
For people who are homeless, these temporary shelters can be lifesaving. NPR spoke with Michael Travis in Phoenix, who said the city’s temporary shelter allowed him to stay with his pet and was much safer than staying on the street or in a traditional shelter. He’s also been able to work on homework to complete his nursing degree.
Nearby business owners who once sued the city over its response to homelessness also say the temporary campsite has been a success.
“It is just so much better than so many other options,” Bill Morlan, who owns a local electric supply store, told NPR affiliate KJZZ Phoenix in December 2025. “I would hope to see them continue to fund it at the levels it’s being funded and continue it.”
Success Without Stability: Funding Puts the Model at Risk
These campgrounds face an uncertain future because of proposed federal funding changes. Recently, President Donald Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a series of significant changes to its Continuum of Care grant program, which many homeless service providers described as “life-or-death.”
Those changes are being proposed at a time when homelessness is continuing to grow faster than shelters and supportive housing units are being built. Across the nation, more than 771,000 people were homeless in 2024, which represented an increase of 18% from the previous year. Experts expect that total to climb again in 2025 as the rising cost of living continues to threaten the housing stability of many low-income earning households.
When Policy Lags Behind Reality
One challenge these temporary shelters face is that they don’t fit neatly into standard definitions of homeless shelters, which can make it difficult for them to receive funding. HUD does not recognize temporary shelters in its definition and counts people living in them as “unsheltered” in its annual homelessness survey.
To people like Milne, the way the temporary shelters are classified is a misnomer.
“It’s so much better than what people could experience in an outdoor experience that wasn’t this,” Milne told KJZZ. “This is absolutely going really well, and having this alternative option has been very beneficial.”
Research has also shown that Safe Outdoor Spaces are a more effective intervention for homelessness than the traditional shelter system. Not only are people at Safe Outdoor Spaces connected with wraparound services during their stay, but they are also more likely to continue engaging with these services because they have a stable place to sleep.
These interventions can help give cities more time to develop other solutions like affordable and supportive housing, according to a study by The Brookings Institution.
“Given how critical the issue of rising homelessness is—for human life, safety, and the economic vitality of entire cities and regions—it is crucial that leaders get this moment right,” the Brookings study reads in part. “A large and growing homeless population is not an inevitable part of human or urban life. Despite the punitive turn the nation is witnessing, real solutions exist that can enable access to housing, shelter, and services, while also avoiding the municipal and societal costs of incarceration.”
How You Can Help
Now is not the time to be silent about homelessness in Arizona or anywhere else. Unhoused people deserve safe, sanitary housing just as much as those who can afford rent or a mortgage.
Poverty and homelessness are both policy choices, not personal failures. That’s why we need you to contact your officials and tell them you support legislation that:
- Streamlines the development of affordable housing
- Reduces barriers for people experiencing homelessness to enter permanent housing
- Bolster’s government response to homelessness
Together, we can solve homelessness.