Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego delivers her annual State of the City address at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown on April 12, 2023. (Photo by Paula Soria/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego stressed the importance of addressing homelessness, climate change and infrastructure in her annual State of the City address Wednesday.
“As the city continues to confront this challenge head-on, I am renewing my call to our partners – from other municipalities across the Valley to state and county agencies: The only way we can solve a problem that affects us all is by working together,” Gallego said.
In her remarks at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, she outlined the tactics Phoenix is using to combat the homelessness crisis, including working with nonprofit partners to manage more than 5,000 affordable housing units. Last week, the YMCA unveiled a new homeless youth drop-in and residential program to young adults in need of food and other services.
Between 2020 and 2022, 22% more people experienced homelessness in Maricopa County and 34% more were unsheltered, according to a count done by Maricopa Association of Governments.