The months of April and May saw deliveries of much needed supplies to shelters and other homeless service providers throughout the state, consisting of toilet paper to hand sanitizer, cleaning and personal supplies, as well as water to distribute to clients and other needs. This was all accomplished through working with our state agency partner, the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA), who had the ability to order supplies in bulk through the State’s Procurement Office through pre-existing vendor relationships, in order to gain savings and expedite orders, and delivered the supplies to each provider location.  Many homeless service providers did not have the storage space available for several months’ worth of supplies so the initial deliveries were made smaller with enough supplies to last about four months.

As a follow up to assistance that was delivered at the beginning of the pandemic efforts, the Department distributed a survey to 87 shelters and homeless service providers, as well as cities with outreach teams, asking them to submit their additional supply orders that would get them through the remainder of the calendar year to 2021. Based on the feedback from the providers, ADOA is busy once again ordering supplies to fulfill the new supply requests. These supplies are expected to be delivered to those providers in mid-August to early September. The Department will distribute another survey to the homeless service providers in the fall, with a third supply delivery expected to be made to those providers in November and early December.

The Arizona Department of Housing is pleased that the State is able to help our homeless service provider partners to provide additional resources during this crisis. Over $3 million in grant resources allocated by the Governor’s Office and administered by the Arizona Department of Housing continues to provide direct and timely relief to communities most impacted by COVID-19. The Department continues to work in partnership with those entities that are receiving additional federal and/or state support to assist the homeless provider community, working with the Arizona Department of Economic Security, as well as counties and cities to make sure essential needs are met.

Housing Matters | Summer 2020