A massive homeless encampment in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, known as the “Zone,” raises eyebrows as the shelter’s population swells to more than 900 people.
The Zone is located on 9th Avenue, Jackson Street, 13th Avenue, and Jefferson Street in Phoenix, down the street from the Arizona State Capitol complex.
Vice News points out, “the camp more than doubling in size over two years may be a testament to how bad Phoenix’s housing crisis has become.”
“People say, ‘Are you surprised?’ And I say, ‘No, not really, because all of the housing forces in Phoenix and Maricopa County have been working against us for years,’” said Human Services Campus Executive Director Amy Schwabenlender, who works in the Zone.
“We’ve had ongoing population increases in Phoenix and Maricopa County. We haven’t had housing production at all income levels keep up and meet that increase in population,” Schwabenlender said.
According to Schwabenlender, the tent city had a population of 200 people last summer. By the end of 2021, the population climbed to 500, then 700, and in the last three weeks, the number jumped to 900 unsheltered people. The rapid increase coincides with a massive boom in Arizona’s residential real estate market, where rents and housing prices skyrocketed during the virus pandemic, thanks to rock-bottom interest rates and low inventory.
Read more: The Cult Agenda and the Hunger Games Society: Phoenix’s Tent City Expands To Nearly 1,000 As Housing Affordability Crisis Worsens