Phoenix (STN) – Every night, at least 600 people sleep inside the single-adult shelter run by Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) in downtown Phoenix. For years, four case managers have been responsible for helping all of them find a way out.
That math is the focus of a video feature during the October episode of ‘It Happens at STN.’ Nathan Smith, CEO of CASS, and his team explained where community support can make the biggest difference.
“A difference maker for people who are staying in shelter oftentimes is do they have someone working with them to navigate the system and ultimately get into permanent housing,” Smith said. “When the answer is yes, the chances that someone finds housing goes up quite a bit.”
Smith said more than half of case-managed guests find their way into housing, and in some months as many as 70%.
With 600 beds plus overflow, the ratio is about 150 people to one case manager, said Stephanie Duncan, CASS program performance specialist. “You’re immediately not able to engage with that client,” Duncan said. “You’re not giving them the ample amount of time that they need to really just help set them up for success ultimately.”
For Duncan, it is personal. “I was homeless with my family. We came here, we stopped being homeless, and then 10-ish years later I came back and got a role here,” she said. A case manager helped with transportation, job leads, and a nightly meal. “It was just having someone there supporting my journey the entire time.”
CASS also works to remove barriers. “You don’t have to have an appointment. You don’t have to have a referral. You only need to have a bed here in CASS, and you can come in seven days a week and get light touch case management,” said Stephanie Sikorski, housing and supportive services manager at CASS.
“First and foremost, we need to be able to hire more case managers. But secondly, we need to retain the ones that we have better,” Smith said. “I believe we’re going to get 300 to 350 more people into housing each year just by adding six case managers to this downtown location.”
The CASS leadership team joined the live studio audience, and anyone who wants to help can connect with them to get involved.
