{"id":21026,"date":"2026-10-13T17:17:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T00:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com\/in-house\/?p=21026"},"modified":"2026-10-13T17:17:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T00:17:50","slug":"finding-home-how-affordable-housing-is-changing-lives-in-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com\/in-house\/in-house-news\/finding-home-how-affordable-housing-is-changing-lives-in-phoenix","title":{"rendered":"Finding Home: How Affordable Housing is Changing Lives in Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As affordable housing grows scarcer and the cost of living climbs, three Phoenix-area families show how life events can push an ordinary household into homelessness\u2014and how the chance to call a house a home can change everything.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original photography courtesy Scott Foust Studios<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life Ashley P. wanted was modest by most measures: a kitchen table stacked with fresh fruit, framed portraits of her three children on the wall, the morning drive to school and her two boys heading to the local basketball court. After everything her family had endured, these ordinary details were the whole point.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ashley P. and her children\u2014Nalyha, 12, Leland, 10, and Jaidon, 13\u2014gather around their kitchen table.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not long before, Ashley had been making a different calculation: how to move her children out of their home in 30 days while undergoing treatment for stage 4 colorectal cancer and unable to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley, 36, had raised her children in North Carolina and kept up with the bills. Housing insecurity was unfamiliar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy bills were always paid,\u201d she said. \u201cMy rent was always paid. Everything was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she came to Arizona to escape a dangerous domestic violence situation and protect her children, Jaidon, 13, Nalyha, 12, and Leland, 10. As she began rebuilding, she received the cancer diagnosis. She went on medical leave while on chemotherapy and radiation, but could not return to her job. Without an income, the structure of her life gave way quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lost my home, my job, everything I worked hard for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her children were given 30 days to leave their home, and for the first time, Ashley faced the possibility that they would have nowhere to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I was a failure at that time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Ashley understood as a personal failure had grown out of two crises arriving almost at once: violence and serious illness. The distance between stability and homelessness had turned out to be much smaller than she had ever imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In greater Phoenix, that distance is increasingly measured in dollars. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition<\/a>, Arizona is short 130,552 rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income households. In the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan area, a worker must earn $35.37 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental at the federal fair market rent. At minimum wage, a worker would need to put in 87 hours a week\u2014the equivalent of 2.2 full-time jobs\u2014to afford a two-bedroom rental statewide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under those conditions, a medical diagnosis can easily become a housing crisis. So can a job loss, a family separation or a fixed disability check that no longer covers the bills. Homelessness may become visible on a sidewalk, but it often begins privately, with a household budget that no longer balances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the Valley, that process can remain largely out of sight. It unfolds inside homes families have been told to leave, in cars and motel rooms, in spare bedrooms where relatives double up, and in the separation of people who can no longer afford to live together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>
\n

Ashley eventually connected with A New Leaf, a Maricopa County nonprofit that provides housing, shelter and support services to people in crisis. She moved with her children into one of the organization\u2019s affordable housing communities. She is now in remission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apartment came with practical support, including an on-site marketplace and help with everyday needs. But it also returned something less tangible: a place where the family could settle into a routine without wondering how long it would last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d she said of the apartment. \u201cThe support system is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A New Leaf serves nearly 20,000 clients annually through coordinated entry or referrals from hospitals, schools, law enforcement and social services, while some seek help directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross all programs, our goal is to provide not just housing, but the supportive services needed to help people build lasting independence and stability,\u201d said Brandon E. Dale, CEO of A New Leaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dale said one of the most persistent misconceptions is that homelessness affects a particular kind of person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the biggest misconceptions about homelessness is that it only affects a certain type of person,\u201d Dale said. \u201cEvery day, we meet working parents, seniors, veterans and survivors of domestic violence who simply experienced a crisis they couldn\u2019t overcome alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kira F. arrived at housing insecurity by a different route. For her, an apartment became one of the final requirements in a long effort to bring her children home.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kira F. spends time at home with her children, Arik, 13, Shaun, 10, and Chastity, 7.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Several years ago, Kira\u2019s drug addiction led child protective services to remove her three young children from her custody. Kira was homeless and alone. Not having her kids, she said, became the turning point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just wanted my kids back so desperately,\u201d she said. \u201cLosing them was devastating, and right then I decided to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next two years, Kira attended every court hearing, went through drug counseling and participated in therapy with her children. Recovery was necessary but not sufficient. She also needed to be able to afford an address to provide a safe home for her children to return to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she learned that A New Leaf<\/a> could help her secure a two-bedroom apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I heard that, the weight of the world just lifted off of my shoulders,\u201d Kira said. \u201cI knew the court expected me to have a proper home for my kids, and this would make that possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her family came home in stages. Her oldest son, Arik, 13, returned first. A few months later her younger son, Shaun, 10, followed. Finally, her daughter, Chastity, 7, was placed back in her custody. The full effort took four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apartment did not replace the work Kira had done. It gave that work a place to hold and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, Kira is pursuing a master\u2019s degree. Her children are doing well in school and attend A New Leaf\u2019s after-school program. She talks about wanting to be present and consistent, to give them the kind of daily assurance they once lacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel proud of where I am now,\u201d she said. \u201cI finally have the life I want, and I get to share it with my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>
\n

For Tim, 33, and Antoinette, 43, the arithmetic of housing insecurity centered on a fixed income. Both are legally blind. They were raising their son, Elliot, largely on disability income when they could no longer keep up with the bills. Antoinette and Elliot moved in with relatives while Tim searched for work and an apartment. He eventually became homeless and lived in a tent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They still considered themselves a family; they simply could not afford to share a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was scared as a new father, having a baby boy and trying to make ends meet,\u201d Tim said. \u201cIt was a challenging time for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the weeks became months, a relative helped Tim call a housing hotline. That call connected the family with A New Leaf. Within days, they moved into a unit where their rent was indexed to their income. The calculation that had divided the family finally changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we signed the lease and they handed us the keys, it was like our dream of having a stable home was finally coming true,\u201d Tim said. \u201cWe\u2019d been looking for our forever home for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elliot, now 11, enrolled in a nearby school and attends the on-site after-school program. Tim found work at the Foundation for Blind Children. A job, a school and an address allowed the family to enjoy the same daily life together again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stories of Ashley, Kira, Tim and Antoinette are just a snapshot of a much larger issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current 2026 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count<\/a> identified 9,726 people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County. Among them were 611 families comprising 2,103 people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name is bureaucratic, but the count carries weight. Each January, local homelessness-response networks known as Continuums of Care conduct the federally required count of sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on one night. The results go to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and influence planning and funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maricopa report is the official annual recording for the Phoenix region, not a statewide count. Pima County counts separately, while the Arizona Balance of State Continuum of Care<\/a> covers the other 13 counties. Together, they form Arizona\u2019s standardized PIT picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report acknowledges that a single night cannot capture movement in and out of homelessness over a year. Indeed, the National Homelessness Law Center<\/a> has noted that estimates could actually be 2.5 to 10.2 times higher, illustrating the limitations of one-night counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruby Dhillon-Williams, director of the Arizona Department of Housing, said more than half of Arizona\u2019s low-income renters spend more than half their earnings on housing. The state has invested in homelessness response, affordable rentals and homeownership, she said, but the shortage requires a response that lasts beyond a year-by-year budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe single greatest hurdle is shifting from reactive, one-time emergency infusions to sustainable, permanent funding streams that keep pace with Arizona\u2019s housing deficit,\u201d she said, noting that the state invested $165 million and broke ground on more affordable housing units over the last three years than during any other three-year period in Arizona\u2019s history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While those decisions can sound removed from the lives they shape, their consequences are not. For Kira, housing created the conditions for her children to come home. For Tim and Antoinette, it reunited a family under one roof. For Ashley, it restored the rhythm of getting children to school and watching them run off to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStable housing isn\u2019t the end goal, it\u2019s the starting point,\u201d Dale said. \u201cOnce people have a safe place to call home, they can begin to heal, regain stability and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Ashley\u2019s table, that starting point looks a great deal like ordinary family life. That is precisely what she had feared losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s hope,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beyond monetary contributions, other ways include volunteering, organizing and participating in donation drives for essential household items, supporting organizations providing housing and services, and advocating for policies that expand affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people experiencing housing insecurity are working, raising children or recovering from circumstances beyond their control,\u201d Dale said. \u201cTreating people with dignity, learning about the realities of homelessness and supporting organizations doing this work all help build stronger, more compassionate communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more at turn<\/a>anewleaf.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Home Isn\u2019t Safe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For someone experiencing domestic violence, leaving may also mean losing a home and financial stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maricopa County\u2019s 2026 PIT count found that 37% of the people identified were female, while 622 people reported experience with domestic violence. While the report does not show how much those groups overlap, the figures point to the intersecting crises survivors may face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope Women\u2019s Center, an Arizona nonprofit serving vulnerable women and teen girls, provides free counseling, mentoring, job training, parenting classes and material assistance. In 2025, the organization served 2,526 Arizona women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more at hopewomenscenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child Homelessness <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A child does not have to sleep outside to lack a stable home. Many kids stay in motels, cars or with relatives because their family cannot afford a place of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may help explain why official counts differ. Maricopa County\u2019s 2026 PIT count identified 1,322 children on that January night. The Arizona Department of Education counts students statewide over an entire school year and includes those temporarily doubled up with other families. By that broader measure, Arizona recorded 18,040 homeless children and youth in 2021\u201322, its latest published count. Of the 18,025 students with a reported nighttime residence, 12,637 were doubled up. The figures cover different places, periods and definitions, so they are not directly comparable, but together they show the limits of a one-night snapshot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child Crisis Arizona has been helping our community\u2019s most vulnerable children, youth and families for nearly five decades. In 2025, the organization served 23,662 individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more at childcrisisaz.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As affordable housing grows scarcer and the cost of living climbs, three Phoenix-area families show how life events can push an ordinary household into homelessness\u2014and how the chance to call a house a home can change everything.\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":21029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3575,1648],"class_list":["post-21026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-in-house-news","tag-a-new-leaf","tag-featured","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Home: How Affordable Housing is Changing Lives in Phoenix<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As affordable housing grows scarcer and the cost of living climbs, three Phoenix-area families show how life 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