PHOENIX (AP) – A former Phoenix hotel is used as a shelter for older homeless people.
The Arizona Housing Department allocated $ 7.5 million to purchase the former Phoenix Inn, and the city council approved an additional $ 4 million to build the property near Interstate 17 and Northern Avenue for those ages 55 and older to rehabilitate.
Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) will operate the facility, which will have up to 170 beds in 130 rooms to provide temporary shelter for individuals for up to 90 days.
CASS officials said that homeless people aged 55 and over make up about a third of those currently housed in the agency’s downtown property.
Special housing for the elderly will help as different age groups face different problems, officials said.
“You have social security, you have health care problems,” said Craig Tribken, CASS director of business development.
CASS hopes to open the facility by next summer and serve as a model for additional accommodations in Metro Phoenix, said CEO Lisa Glow.
A makeshift shelter for the elderly homeless set up at a hotel in north Phoenix had a higher rate of people moving to permanent shelter than the main downtown shelter, Glow said.
“That’s what we have to do. Get (seniors) out of the mass shelters and move them to more dignified rooms, ”Glow said.
Councilor Betty Guardado, who represents the area, said the transparency of CASS helped the neighborhood get on board with the project and have confidence that it would benefit the region.
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