Good afternoon. It is February 10th, 2026, and I'll call to order the policy meeting of the Phoenix City Council. Will the clerk call the role? >> Councilwoman Guardo, >> here. >> Councilwoman Hernandez. Councilwoman O'Brien >> here. >> Councilwoman Pastor, Councilman Robinson >> here, >> Councilwoman Stark. >> Councilman Wearing >> here. >> Vice Mayor Hodgej Washington >> here. >> Mayor Ggo >> here. We'll begin with council updates. Shall we begin with the vice mayor and then Councilman Gordado? button. Good afternoon. I want to begin by thanking staff for their continued work in preparation for today's policy meeting. Um, I'm going to skip. Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to engage with our community in a number of meaningful ways. From celebrating Black History Month with the National Form of Black Public Administrators to hosting coffee chats in South Mountain and East Phoenix to recognizing important community milestones like the Lavine Community Parade and the grand opening of Adilante Health. These moments reinforce how important it is that our conversations remain grounded in the lived experience to our residents. I appreciate the collaboration and dialogue we've uh as we continue to work towards solutions that strengthen our neighborhoods and move our city forward. Next slide. I think it is fitting to start with these two items as one of the topics in today's conversation is strategies to addressing homelessness within the city of Phoenix. On January 27th, I was able to participate in the 2026 annual point in time count with the Office of Homeless Solutions. I want to recognize the staff, partners, and volunteers who were out in the fields very early in the morning helping us better understand and address homelessness in our city. I know it was, as I mentioned, a super early morning, but this work is critical and will continue to guide our efforts as we move forward. Additionally, I was able to join the Streets of Destiny Church to learn more about their community health innovation hub. They've been helping our homeless residents for over 20 years with heat relief, necessary daily resources, food, and connected individuals to shelter. These types of community organizations continue to help us find new strategies to address homelessness, which continues to be a collaborative approach. Next slide. I also want to recognize the Lavine Community Parade and the organizers and residents who came together to celebrate the culture, pride, and unity of that area. Events like this highlight the importance of continued investment in our communities and the power of connection at the neighborhood level. I was also proud to join the community for the grand opening of Adelante Healthc Care, an important addition that will expand access to quality culturally responsive care in partnership with the Arizona Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This investment in community-based health care is exactly the type of progress that strengthens families and improves long-term outcomes for our residents. Next slide. I also want to thank the residents of South Mountain who joined us for our recent coffee chat and took the time to share their concerns, ideas, and priorities. These conversations are essential to how I lead because listening directly to community helps ensure our policies reflect real lived experiences. I also appreciate everyone who came out to our East Phoenix um coffee chat and engaged in thoughtful dialogue about what was working there and what we need to do better. Creating space for conversations like this is critical to building trust and making sure every part of our city has a voice at the table. The next two coffee chats will be on March 2nd and March 5th in the Sentry City, Central City and Lavine areas. If you missed the first two, I look forward to seeing you at the next one. Next slide. I again want to recognize the NFBBA, NFP, PBPA, Black History Month kickoff, which was a powerful reminder that black history is not only something we honor, but something we continue to live and shape leadership, policy, and public service today. I appreciate their continued work to cultivate equity and strengthen our public institutions for the communities we serve. Lastly, I was a also proud to participate in a press conference for HB2682, which will help establish or reestablish the state's rental assistance um fund. I get to stand with community leaders to elevate this important piece of legislation and its impact on our resident. I want to thank our human services director, Jacqueline, for giving me some additional examples of how important the rental assistance program has been for our residents of Phoenix. As a vice mayor, I remain committed to using this platform to advocate for policies that center fairness, accountability, and the voices of those most affected. Next slide. And as always, if you need help with any city services or notice an issue in your neighborhood, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. Council Gordado, followed by Councilwoman Pastor. >> Thank you, Mayor. District 5 continues to stay active and engaged, hosting dynamic community events that bring neighbors together and keep our momentum going all year. First, let me extend a heartfelt thank you to all who joined us for our very first Mville Marcado of the year this past Saturday. Seeing our city, our city partners and local small businesses come together with neighbors for an afternoon of festivities truly reminds us what community is all about. This year we introduced some exciting new activities and I think we all agreed that the new petting zoo and pony rides absolutely stole the show. The joy of the faces of families and children was priceless. The fun doesn't stop there. Mark your calendar Saturday, March 7th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Marva Community Center. Join us for another vibrant gathering filled with local vendors, delicious food, and lively entertainment. And yes, the pony will be back waiting for you at the petting zoo. Now shifting gears to something equally important. Thank you to all our district 5 residents who attended the winter neighborhood leader meeting to discuss the safe medical treatment and city parks ordinance. Your passion and engagement were inspiring. We deeply appreciate your eagerness to learn more and share your perspectives. A special thank you to our deputy city manager, Cynthia Aguilar, for delivering such an informative presentation and answering every question from the community. We also want to recognize our incredible city partners, the public health office, office of homeless solutions, neighborhood services department, fire and police departments for being there and supporting this important conversation. And of course, a big thank you to our assistant city manager, Ginger Spencer, for joining us and connecting with residents. We had a total of 55 residents that came to the meeting, voice their concerns, spoke to us what they would love to be see in our parks and not seeing in our parks, were happy um and excited um to see so many neighbors being engaged together. We are building a stronger, safer, and more vibrant community. Thank you all for being and being part of this of this journey with all of us. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. Counciloman Pastor. >> Thank you, mayor. >> Uh January 2026 in review. Next slide. On January 10th, residents and volunteers joined the district 4 team for our monthly cleanup. We hosted at Brett Tarver Learning Center and then walked to 35th Avenue in McDow. We are going back this month to clean up the north side of McDow. Scan the QR code to sign up. It's been a very special privilege to meet all the passionate residents who show up to these cleanups. On Martin Luther King Day, Jr., I joined my fellow council members and community members uh for a commemorative walk at East East Lake Park. Dr. King's enduring call for justice and equality continues to ren ren resonate today. More trees are being planted all over district 4. Last month we celebrated two different tree plantings on different sides of the district. Westwood Village and Estates near 19th Avenue in Osborne and Mary View Park on our west side near 55th Avenue in Osborne. Thank you to Westwood Village and Estates Trees Matters Office of Heat Response and Mitigation and Parks and Recreation for their continued work on building our urban canopy and bringing more shade and trees to District 4. District 4 recently hosted two community gatherings, a listening session with Police Chief Matt Gerardano to discuss changes to policy on interacting with unsheltered individuals. residents had the opportunity to ask questions and we had a great discussion. We host a co we hosted a coffee chat this past Saturday at Window Coffee Bar to discuss the upcoming Phoenix FAA modernization project, the flight pattern study. Thank you to Jad Chad and our aviation director for joining us and providing more insight. I joined my colleagues right outside of the city hall last week to kick off Black History Month. Thank you to the National Forum of Black Public Administrators, NFBP. Here I go. NFBPA. This event showcased local business own. I'm just still reeling from what happened earlier. This event showcased local blackowned businesses and gave us an opportunity to celebrate our incredible hardworking black public administrators and city employees. Events like the Black History Month kickoff help spotlight small businesses like Milicks and Broombrush Tea. On the left you can see Veronica helping me try on a reversible jacket. Right now, I'm actually wearing the one I ended up purchasing from her. I also had the privilege of meeting Denise Lee from Broom Bush Bush Team. She's a city employee in the streets transportation department. I found it really exciting to see our city employees getting involved like this. Plus, the Hibiscus tea was incredible. As you know, I'm a tea person. I'm currently recruiting residents to serve on our village planning committees. These volunteer boards review development proposals, zoning changes, and help shape the future of our neighborhoods. If you are passionate about equity, housing, and community voices being at the table, please apply. You can scan the QR code of visit or visit boards.fenix.gov to begin. As always, please reach out to the District 4 office if you have any questions or concern. The best way to get connected is to follow District 4 on social media. We're doing lots of fun things on there. Next slide. >> Spent my Sunday like millions of Americans watching. I had my foot bath in the shirt on. As you can see, my family and I were very excited to watch the halftime show. My children are Mexicans who have embraced and learned their history as a bad time watching. It was amazing and beautiful to see all kinds Americans represented. >> As I was watching the band performance, there were a couple things that stood out to me. A message that love is more important and more powerful than hate. Together we are American. The beauty of people of different backgrounds coming together in celebration. I think this message now now more than ever. The conversation we had today is one that people view differently. We should be mindful. Thank you. Who else has updates? No. Anyone? All right. Then we will go on to agenda item one, which is our 2026 strategies to address homelessness plan. And we'll ask our team to come forward for this important update. And a huge thank you to everyone who's been working on this, including Rachel Scott and the Office of Homeless Solutions teams, as well as so many community members who generously gave us our their time and Linda Gibbs and Bloomberg associates who have been in lended lent us invaluable expertise as well as my colleagues who have worked so hard on this. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, Mayor, members of the council. Well, I'm I'm going to do a quick um introduction before we get started in the meat of the presentation. In 2020, um the original strategies to address homelessness plan was approved by mayor and council. And at that time, um we did not have an office of homeless solutions. Um and we u we had a lot of we didn't have a lot of things in place that we have now. Just a few examples of of things that we have uh now um thanks to your support. The private property cleanup program is an example. We have a structured campground, our safe outdoor space. Um we have multiple shelter beds that were created with your support and um some are are outside of downtown Phoenix, which is something that was a goal of ours. Um with your support and we had some help from Bloomberg Associates. um really want to thank you for that and we're it's time for us to take a look at the future given our current conditions um and the services that we have in place now. So, we're happy to to present for your consideration um the refresh plan. So, I'll turn it over to our director of the office of homeless solutions, Rachel Mily. >> Thanks, Gina. Good afternoon, mayor and council. We're pleased to be here today to go over with you the new strategies to address homeless plan and seek your approval of the plan this afternoon. We're happy to have been working with Bloomberg Associates over the last year on this plan. Their expertise in this area has been phenomenal. Uh they've been important partners facilitating this process and sharing their incredible resources and helping us to visit other communities and look at best practices while also validating the work that OS has done and the and the plan we have to move forward. In our presentation today, we're going to provide a brief background on the original strategies to address homelessness plan. We'll go over the vision statement for the new plan and its five goals. We'll take a deep dive into the plan initiatives, and then we'll review the timeline and implementation. As background, the city adopted the original strategies to address homelessness plan in 2020, which provided a roadmap and strategies for various city departments to address this growing concern. The city also created the strategies to address homelessness task force, which provided initiatives and recommendations to the council, which was was finalized in January of 2022. Later that year, the Office of Homeless Solutions was created uh to coordinate efforts and resources to address homelessness within the city. This pivotal change elevated Phoenix's role from funer to direct service provider and regional leader in this area. Since launching the original plan, the city has made significant stride in expanding shelter and housing capacity, created and formalized our outreach plan, and improved service coordination and contracting, really truly transforming the way Phoenix addresses homelessness. The city will build on this progress and strives to continuously improve on and expand our services through prevention, housing, uh, and housing solutions. The original plan involved just about every single city department as homelessness touches almost every department in the city. Some of the major accomplishments from that original plan were the creation of 1,200 new shelter beds at 10 different projects geographically dispersed throughout the city. As Gina mentioned, the creation of our safe outdoor space, which has all of the wraparound services that you would find in an indoor location, but in an outdoor setting. the decommissioning of the state's largest encampment in 2023. The humane decommissioning of that encampment where we offered every individual who was displaced an alternative place to be. The creation of our community court which aims to help people end their homelessness while also addressing their misdemeanor offenses. And additional transparency with a creation of our data dashboard within the office of homeless solutions. Our housing department played a major role in their original plan inc including creating unique interventions such as the community land trust program and disposition of city-owned property for affordable development. The neighborhood services department started and grew the gated alley program and their private property cleanup program to help private property owners who are uh could be affected by encampments in their community. This slide depicts the city of Phoenix point in time count data for the last four years, not including the 2026 year, which just occurred last week or two weeks ago now. Um, this uh while we've added immense resources over the last several years and have made substantial improvements to our homeless service system, we continue to see a large number of people experiencing homelessness in our community. Our new strategies to address homelessness plan that we are presenting to you today is aimed at reducing these numbers, specifically reducing the number of people in unsheltered situations and helping our sheltered uh individuals exit to housing quicker. With the support of Bloomberg Associates, 46 interviews were conducted with mayor and council, all of our service providers, and neighborhood and community leaders throughout the city. We met with multiple uh partner groups including the original strategies to address homelessness task force, the Phoenix community alliance, the continuum of cares lived experience work group and we hosted a provider forum of all of our contractor providers and vendors that we work with who will be instrumental as we move this plan forward. We also sought broad community feedback to develop the strategies via two public meetings, one virtual, one in person, both with Spanish interpretation and both very well in uh attended. Bloomberg Associates also initiated a public survey which had over 600 responses highlighting the public interest in this topic. Many of the comments received in our public feedback sessions and survey related to the state of homelessness today and priorities included the need for more affordable housing programs, prevention programming, and resources for people in need of behavioral health services. We've highlighted some of the specific feedback Bloomberg received in their one-on-one interviews where they gained feedback on how the city is doing in addressing homelessness, identified current gaps and activities that should be prioritized. This comment highlights the noticeable positive change in services available in the last few years. I worked for 37 years in homelessness and I see a noticeable change. The need has really jumped, so it might not always feel like it. Since the inception of OS, we have been working to demonstrate our sustained commitment to expanding services and enhancing coordination to achieve this change. This comment notes that although they feel the city has come leaps and bounds on visible homelessness, we have not spent enough time on prevention. As you will see in our new plan, we have incorporated feedback from the community and propose a range of prevention activities. As the survey results identified, prevention and housing resources are a top need, as are behavioral health services. This comment is an acknowledgement that sustained new resources will be needed to holistically approach these issues. While the city has been making historic investments, we will need to balance the need to both sustain those investments and advance our work. This interviewee noted that they see the same individuals on a regular basis. We have also identified that we have a large group of people considered long-term homeless, meaning they've been experiencing homelessness and in our system for more than a year. And our plan outlines strategies that will directly address this feedback with specific interventions for people with complex needs. And this final comment contain uh highlights that we continue to receive feedback that supports the direction the city has taken since the inception of OS and the ownership of our programming while balancing a regional approach to this issue. The vision for this plan was crafted in partnership with the community and will guide our support and the goals we have proposed. The vision is that no one in Phoenix should experience homelessness and no community should feel its negative effects. The city of Phoenix will strive to prevent homelessness when we can, make it brief when it happens, and keep people in stable and housing with the supports they need. The goals we developed are practical but aspirational. As in our inaugural plan, where goals did not have a budget line item assigned to them, yet so much was accomplished, we will seek partnerships to achieve the goals and activities outlined in this plan. The five goals are to decrease the number of people who become homeless, to decrease the number of people in either unsheltered or sheltered situations, to reduce the length of time someone spends in an unsheltered or sheltered situation, and to increase housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and lastly, to increase the awareness and effectiveness of our services. We have developed five critical strat focus areas from the plan outlined here. First, prevention. Preventing people from becoming homeless and keeping people stable in their current housing. Safety. Safety for our community, including people experiencing homelessness and our house neighbors and residents. Coordination. Better coordination with other systems of care such as the behavioral health system as well as employment services. And housing. Housing ends homelessness. The plan calls for dedicated housing for individuals and families ending their experiencing homelessness. And lastly, accountability, improved accountability and transparency for city services and for providers. Deputy Director Scott Hall and Special Project Administrator Margaret Adams will now go through each one of these plan focus areas and the specific initiatives that support them. >> Thank you so much, Rachel. So, as Rachel outlined, one of our goals is to reduce the number of people who enter into homelessness, both by targeting our resources and expanding our services for people who are the most at risk of entering into the homeless response system. The strategies we're hoping to uh, you know, deploy to achieve these goals are one, using data to um identify those most at risk, keeping partnerships with groups like the Arizona uh housing analytics collaborative and seeking to use available data again to prioritize those who most at risk of losing their housing and help them you know stay in that housing. We know that that's a a more coste effective solution. Next, we want to secure additional prevention funding that is flexible and can be used for things outside of you know rental assistance and utility assistance as needed. We also want to expanding diversion and rapid exit from shelter programming to help people reunite with family and friends where that's appropriate. And finally, we really want to focus on expanding the successes that we've seen in our community court program, connecting people with connecting people who are exiting from jail or prison with housing and employment services as appropriate. So these strategies are really going to help us continue to do what is working and scale our services with targeted interventions based on the diverse needs of the people that we serve. >> And next we have safety for neighborhoods and for people experiencing homelessness. The city is committed to implementing a comprehensive approach to homelessness and maintaining safety for all residents as a critical part of our response. The strategies strategies in this focus area continues our mission of leading with services while balancing the needs of the community with the needs of people who experience homelessness. We aim to achieve this balance through the following activities. Develop a streamlined process to offer services while enforcing ordinances that ensure public facilities remain safe and open for all members of our community. Developing a real-time referral dashboards for outreach workers to connect people with services and shelter. Improving the quality and performance of our shelters by creating more opportunities for people to exit to housing. Maintaining low barriers to entry and have the capacity to serve high needs populations and ensure that we continue to maintain and expand access to life-saving heat relief solutions, including our 24-hour heat restit. Next, we want to be connecting residents to all services we offer and other critical parts of our strategy. We seek to expand access and services for other systems of care and better connect people with shelter, health care, and employment services. This will be achieved by strengthening access to substance use and mental health treatment within the homeless response system. Ensuring that we have the right blend of services for individuals who have high needs and have been experiencing long-term homelessness. Creating shelter and housing interventions that can address complex conditions and reduce cycling through the emergency and homeless response systems. implement strategies and programming to provide additional support for providers and maintain high quality services across our city- funded projects and expand access to supportive and paid employment opportunities and shelter and housing programs. Employment opportunities are critical to connect people to housing that is sustainable. So, as Rachel mentioned earlier, housing is what ends homelessness. And this focus area on dedicated housing is critical to supporting the success of this new plan. The strategies we want to implement in this focus area are reviewing our system and cost modeling to identify the needs of the people using our services and ensure that we have the right balance of um shelter and housing investments. We also want to stabilize funding for comprehensive supportive services that allows us again to continue those successful programs and ensure that people do not return to homelessness. We want to also use our system modeling outcomes to determine actually how much supportive housing investment is going to be needed for those more high needs complex households that we um you know that we are some we are seeing in our system. and those folks are going to require both a rental subsidy and supportive services. We also want to make sure that we're improving outcomes and placements from our shelters. And this activity is really important because it supports not only positive exits from our shelter. Um allowing us, but it also um increases the amount of people that we can serve within our shelter. And so it really helps us with some of our other focus areas like um neighborhood safety. Um yep. We also want to continue to advocate for increased rental subsidies and housing vouchers and support households who may need that ongoing rental subsidy in order to uh sustain their housing. And then finally, we want to think about innovative um housing models like um master leasing and shared housing to make it really seamless for a seamless process for people who are experiencing homelessness to attain housing out in our community. >> And for the final focus area, we have improve accountability and transparency for city services and providers. OHS recognizes the need for greater transparency and efficiency for both city staff and our providers. This focus area seeks to implement activities that will support achieving our strategic goals, improving outreach and communication, and improving our overall coordination efforts. These initiatives include expanding our CARES protocols to maintain our coordinated response to reports from the community, continue to improve coordination across all city departments, specifically to ensure that our responses to encampments, street cleanups, and parks are aligned and effective, strengthening our workforce through training opportunities to improve the services we deliver. continue to coordinate with and expand connections to neighborhood groups, businesses, and faith organizations for programming, presentations, and to ensure that all residents are aware of the city's efforts and the resources that are available. Develop systemwide data collection and and key indicators of performance to ensure our investments are achieving our goals and share those results with internal and external partners. evaluate and respond to the performance of city- funded service investments, both internal and external. Create a diverse funding strategy that leverages multi- sector partnerships. And finally, to continue to enhance and promote healthy giving to create opportunities for individuals and volunteers to give their time and resources in ways that minimize any inadvertent negative consequences in our community. >> Thank you, Margaret and Scott, for that in-depth overview of the strategic initiatives. So, we have spent the last several months getting feedback and incorporating feedback um and then drafting the plan content and layout in the packet that you received uh last a few days ago. Um and today here we are asking for city council approval of the plan as it stands so that we can begin to finalize and implement the plan. We have begun in areas where we were able to do so with a very little resources implement here and there and we're excited to get going in a in a more substantial way and then we have committed to make updates not only to city council but community groups and our provider groups as well as we move forward with the plan. Your leadership and guidance throughout the implementation of the original plan and certainly since the creation of the Office of Homeless Solutions has allowed us to make so much progress in addressing homelessness in Phoenix and achieve goals that previously seemed insurmountable. The plan that was presented to you today is ambitious, but we have to set ambitious goals in order to make major change. Thank you for your time today and we look forward to hearing your feedback. >> Wonderful. Gina, Rachel, and team, thank you so much for this really important presentation and update. We know that homelessness coupled with the shortage on affordable housing is not just a Phoenix problem. It is a problem throughout our country. I was heartened to see that last night the US House of Representatives passed the housing for the 21st century act with a huge bipartisan vote of 390 to9. LA the last year the Senate passed the road to housing act which also had broad bipartisan support. These housing packages are steps in the right direction to address homelessness and the housing crisis in our country. We know local governments can't do it alone. We need the federal government to step up and um encourage Congress to come together and deliver a final housing package for the American people. Some of the successes we talked here were in partnership with the federal government. Particularly the American Rescue Plan provided critical funding that helped us get people out of that largest encampment and into safer situations. So, want to acknowledge that partnership. In Phoenix, we've made significant investments to help those experiencing homelessness, to minimize the effect of homelessness on our neighborhoods and local businesses, and to collaborate with community organizations and homebuilders to expand available and affordable housing. In this presentation, we celebrated particular a lot of the work the Office of Homeless Solutions was about, including those incredible 1,200 shelter beds and some of the programs we've done for cleanup, the community court, and more. But it has really been a citywide effort. In the past year, last year, we exceeded our goal to create or preserve 50,000 homes, and we did it five years ahead of schedule. In fact, more than 61,000 homes have been built to preserve since 2020, and about 20% of those are affordable. We've really challenged city departments across the city to to step up and help with community and economic development as we've done tax incentives for new housing. We prioritize setting aside affordable units. We established a housing trust fund last fall to help fund affordable housing projects. Our planning and development department has tried to look at how we can make sure we get more housing and the type of housing we need. My colleagues have been working hard on eviction prevention and down payment assistance. So, we really are trying to look all across the city in this area. And it is not just OS, the Office of Homeless Solutions that that does this work. Also a huge thank you to our partners and the network of community- based organizations who provide compassionate support every day. And uh we appreciate when other jurisdictions sh step up if everyone was funding at the same level as Phoenix how incredible the progress we could make in Arizona would be. Uh we also partner with the state of Arizona, but have to be aware right now they're having debates over some pretty significant budget cuts. the state collects and and shares with us state shared revenue and and the debate right now is not if they're going to cut it, but how much. So, we have to be cognizant of very complicated environment. The housing and urban development department also proposed some changes that that will be make this work more complex. So, it is a time with a lot of nuance and and we will continue to step up and do our part. Thousands of people have gotten keys to homes thanks to the work of the city of Phoenix. In the past, we've shared some of their their stories. Uh those are the wonderful moments when you we got to meet Crystal and her husband who who got a a key to their a home that was life-changing for them and and we want to hand out more of those keys. We know we got a lot more work to do and I'm so appreciative. This has been a top priority for all of my colleagues and it's it's been really good to work with all of you. So, I'll turn now to council comments. Uh Councilman O'Brien. Thank you, mayor. I too want to thank um Gina, Rachel, Scott, Margaret, and all the staff as well as Bloomberg Associates for the work that you've presented today. These strategies reflect strong coordination, solid data, and meaningful community engagement. And I appreciate the continued focus on results and accountability. Homelessness is complex and driven by multiple factors, which means our response must be balanced. combining compassion, support, and clear expectations. And I'm encouraged to see how this refresh plan builds on the progress Phoenix has already made and aligns with solutions that I've long supported. In 2023, I released a homeless solutions plan focused on proven practical strategies. And a key component was the community court, which I championed because it addressed the root cause of repeated lowlevel offenses tied to homelessness. It aims to break the cycle of homelessness and recidivism by connecting people with health services, treatment, housing resources, and job training. And I'm happy to say that Community Court is delivering on those real results. It's in its first two years, nearly 200 people have graduated from the program. People who've completed counseling, obtained IDs, reconnected with support systems, and moved off the streets and out of shelters. And the real measure of success is whether they stay out of trouble. And it's more than 90% of community court graduates do not reaffend. That means we're breaking cycles, reimpu we're improving lives and strengthening neighborhood safety. Prevention is just as critical. It's why I advocated and supported for the city's eviction prevention pilot program using $1.2 million in federal pandemic funds to help families stay housed. and I'm very grateful for Vice Mayor Kesha Hajj Washington's continued work in p pushing for more infection prevention. I remain fully committed to finding a permanent funding solution in the next year's budget. And again, I appreciate the work reflected here and look forward to continuing to partner to ensure Phoenix delivers real measurable outcomes for residents, neighborhoods, and those working to get back on their feet. Thank you again. >> Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I want to start off by saying thank you to the Office of Homeless Solution as well as Bloomberg Associates for the amount of work that clearly went into this project, this plan. Uh, we know that homelessness and housing stability continues to be one of the top issue throughout our city and I really appreciate you taking the time to invest your expertise, your passion, your time, your commitment to coming up with what I think is a very forwardleading plan. and it's something to be proud of. Um, since 2020, as mentioned, the city has changed how we respond to homelessness and I think this update reflects a continued effort to move it in a coordinated and data-driven manner. So, I'm very excited to see that. I really appreciate that this plan balances compassion with accountability. It recognizes that preventing homelessness whenever possible, making it brief when it occurs, and ensuring that neighborhoods remain safe are not competing priorities. They all worked hand in hand. They're interconnected responsibilities. So, I'm really grateful. I I I really uh admire the vision statement. I think once we identify what we are striving for, I think we are more likely to achieve that. And I'm also encouraged by the community input that helped shape this refresh. Um including residents, service providers, individuals with lived experience, and neighborhood stakeholders. I think their input has helped us to craft a plan that we should be proud of and we want to make sure that no community feels the impact of uh our homelessness. Um and we want to make sure responses to that. Overall, this plan to me reflects um real growth in how we as a city approach homelessness with clearer goals, stronger coordination, and an honest acknowledgement that sustainable funding and accountability will determine our success. Um, I look forward to continuing this conversation and seeing regular updates on how we move from planning to implementation. I do I've probably been a lot very hands-on on this plan. So, I know the answers to the question I'm going to ask, but I do think it's helpful to ask a few questions just to help our community also understand um what it is that we are t what we're talking about. Um I would like you to talk a little bit about um I'm going to start off with utilizing data to identify the people most at risk. I think that is a very forward move uh a very um future oriented view of how we solve these problems. And I think it might be helpful to talk about how the city under this plan will operationalize the predictive data tools mentioned in the plan to identify households most at risk. >> Mayor, members of the council, Vice Mayor Haj Washington. So I'm I'm happy to say that the a group called AAC has really been leading this predictive modeling work and Azac is made up of ASU, UVA, and NAU. and they've been working with organizations. In fact, um human services department director Jacqueline Edwards has been uh right in the mix working really uh looking at previous data to find who is would uh the predictive elements that would best be able to be utilized to know who without some sort of assistance would experience homelessness if they didn't receive that assistance instead of sort of a first come first serve model. um dedicating those very uh uh those resources to people who um without other assistance would actually experience homelessness. So that work has been underway for for um well over a year now um led by uh the Brian Garcia Family Foundation is funding it, but ASHack is doing that work and and um certainly um Director Edwards could answer more specific questions. She's been in the in the mix there. Thank you for that. I I really wanted to spend a moment on this because I do believe that eviction uh homelessness prevention is a key part of our strategy. The data tells us that it is more expensive to get someone housed after they've been in homelessness versus it is to prevent homelessness. So although some individuals may see this as an opportunity where we are simply spending, we're actually making a an investment that has a really good return on investment. So I wanted to point out that this plan is focused on a very pragmatic and intentional way of identifying those greatest in needs and we're just not relying on individuals to reach out to us. We kind of have an idea of how to contact them. So, thank you for the explanation. I'm not sure if Director Edwards wanted to chime in. I see her coming. I'll give her an opportunity to chime in on this as well. Um, and I again, I'm just saying all this because I believe that prevention is ultimately um one of our best strategies when it comes to homelessness. welcome to the table. >> Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. Um, as uh Rachel had shared, um, we in the human services department, we have been participating with Azac with for over a year and the data that we had shared with uh, rental assistance that we have provided in the past spec specifically pandemic related assistance. uh that was merged with information um with 211 um to see about housing stability, the homeless management information system and with eviction filings. I'm pleased to say that our information was actually the core of how they could connect the other systems because of the data elements that we provided. We are continuing to work with them to provide more data elements to understand what are those uh criteria that we can identify uh for households to uh support their housing stability and make those uh preventative efforts. Uh the information that that we have first uh been provided uh was really interesting including that um a large percentage of households uh after receiving rental assistance um actually appeared in one of the other systems. So 211 homeless management information system or an eviction filings at the threemonth mark. So that just that one piece of information uh the human services department is utilizing that for how we can work with households to support them after receiving assistance um as well as identifying um households um uh that should be receiving assistance as well. Thank you so much for that and apologies for calling you at the last minute but um but just thought it was helpful for our community to understand the full scope of what it is we're doing. Um again I really am I really like this plan because it is focused a lot of on data and how do we think how do we get in a more um connected system. One of the other highlights I think of this plan is a dashboard of shelter availability. I think as mentioned we have done a great job identifying um sorry creating shelter beds in our community and one of the ways is making sure we are connecting those to those that are in need as well as those that provide outreach to our community. I als I I mentioned this to you as well, but I also think it's important for us to have this so that we know is there um so we can understand the impact of the true need and a true request because sometimes is you're not but sometimes we would go out and be like we have you know we know how many beds we have available but I think it's also important for us to track how many um how many needs may not have been met. I see you going to go ahead Gina I mean Rachel sorry >> mayor members of council vice mayor. Yes, that's been something that that's one of the pieces I mentioned that we had started to implement some of these pieces. We've been working with the ASU Luminosity Lab on just that. They're creating a a data dashboard of shelter availability so that um our outreach teams aren't relying on a a morning text to know how many beds they have available. We'll have a data system in place to know we have x number of female beds at this shelter, x number of couples uh uh spaces at this shelter. So piloting that with our city- owned our three city- owned sites first before we take it more broadly. But yes, we're very excited about that improvement um in technology. And I don't have to tell you this, but I I in the field I'm sure our outreach specialists, they know if we can offer a bed right then and there, it's usually has a greater probability of being accepted and being received by the individual in need versus us having to tell them we'll be back in an hour or so to clarify that. So I I just wanted to highlight that. I think it's uh many may not understand the importance of that. I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for that portion of the plan as well. And then the other thing uh real quick is the behavioral health services and better coordination. That also is an area that we I hear a lot from our community on how we are going to address that. So I really am appreciative that the plan includes a specific on how do we coordinate better not just between systems but regionally and as a whole because it is not a city of as the mayor mentioned it's not a city of Phoenix specific issue. It requires a lot of actors to make this um work and although we are I could say this we are the leaders in this we are not the only ones we're not the only players. So, I really appreciated that input into this. And I will wrap up my comments just talking a little bit about um some of the accountability and transparency provisions. Um because um as a council member, we are charged with being good stewards of our resources for our community. And one of the criticisms that we hear from those that feel like we have not done enough or we're not doing enough is that we continue to invest funding into this, but yet we continue to see an increase in individuals experiencing homelessness. Um the data I've spent enough time with you guys to know this that for every one person that we exit from homelessness, two people enter into homelessness. And I give that statistic just because I think it's important for us to remind our community that this is a complex issue. It is a um it is there's a lot of factors that go into this and I think we need to identify how are we going to best identify the key indic uh performance indicators for testing and determine whether or not our plan is meeting the goals that we have set for ourselves. um so that we can hold ourselves also accountable as to whether or not a program is successful or it is um it's something that Councilman Hodgej Washington really likes to see so she doesn't want to give it up. We have a finite number of resources but how do we how are we going to review this and assess this? We've talked about assessing it for our service providers but I want to make sure we have a plan and how we assess it as a city as well. I said a lot. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor. Um that is actually something that we are going to be working on with Bloomberg tomorrow is um working on these KPIs for each one of the the strategic goals that we went over today, but we feel the exact exact way you feel and and I believe it was in the accountability section where we we specifically say we've got to evaluate not only city the city services, but our partners as well to make sure that we are learn learning, changing, and improving as we go. >> Okay. And I will actually close now, mayor, by saying I'm very excited to see the master leasing and other new uh options come forward. Um we know that this problem is has is it's it's uh it's complex and it's it's es it's increasing in its in its um scope. So I believe that we need to be uh we need to be bold in our mo in our process and how we move forward. And I think this plan especially, I'm very excited about the new potential housing options in the plan because we recognize um for me personally, I recognize that we as a city should not just simply be relying on our federal partners. We can't continue to just say we don't get enough housing choice vouchers. I think we have a I I'm really excited to see us step outside the box and do something a little bit more innovative to help address more of our residents and provide more stability and quality of life um for our residents. So, thank you for a phenomenal um revive refresh strategies on addressing homelessness. Um I'm excited to move it forward and see it come to fruition. So, thank you for your thank you for all that you've done. >> Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. We'll go to Councilman Robinson and then Councilwoman Hernandez. >> Thank you, Mayor. You know, Rachel, Margaret, and Scott, thank you guys very much. This is an excellent presentation. and of all the monthly meetings we have in our office. I really enjoy, for lack of a better word, enjoy meeting with you guys and understanding more completely about the work that you're doing. And the question I have and Rachel, you know, I always threaten to ask you a math question, so it's not a math question, but um in your opinion, because you guys are the experts, in your opinion, what should the city be doing first? when I look at all of your strategies, what where are we going to get the the best return on our investment? What area? >> Mayor, members of council, uh, Councilman Robinson, thank you for that question. So, I think first and foremost, we have to sustain the investment we've made over the last three, three and a half, four years. That first and foremost, we have put so much money into this shelter system. We had to do it. We had a a a a need for more places for people to go. And right now today, the city in in the city's three city- owned shelters and two city controlled shelters, we've got over 890 people in shelter today because of those investments. So, maintaining those investments while also focusing, to vice mayor's point, on housing. Housing is going to end homelessness. Concentrating our efforts on those housing uh on those housing initiatives will help us truly move the needle moving forward. >> Okay. Thank you. and I and the vice mayor covered some of the one of the other questions I wanted to ask, but it it was just perfect. Thank you for the response and again, thank you guys very much for the presentation. Mayor, thank you for the time. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Hernandez. >> Thank you, mayor. And um really thank you to for all the hard work. It's not easy work that you are all doing on this topic. Um I also want to really thank the vice mayor for just stepping up to really help drive solutions to uh our homelessness issue. um considering district 7 and district 8 carry the brunt of these shelter spaces uh for the city. Um so thank you so much for just your partnership on trying to find uh root cause solutions to this issue and I cannot stress enough how grateful I am that you are willing to answer all of my questions. Um, we have had been talk we have been talking about this issue directly with this staff since I was at the state senate and so I really appreciate that you were always open to uh hear ideas and constructive criticism as we um have tried to deal with this issue. Um I think I'm very encouraged that we are taking a step into being more proactive in how we uh how we are going to craft policy to resolve homelessness. Right. And I don't think there I'm a broken record at this point that housing is the biggest path to resolve homelessness. Um so I'm really encouraged by some of the measures I see in this in this presentation. Um specifically and I know um Councilwoman O'Brien has mentioned it in her housing plan, the community land trust. I think that was a great thing that happened. Um, something that wasn't mentioned, but the council did back, I can't remember what year, is pass the uh, uh, source of income prohibition on discrimination. So, I'm really thankful to my colleagues that worked on that to pass it. I was trying to do it at the state level to help with with this issue. Uh, nonetheless, it didn't go very far, but um, I think that that shows that the city can take proactive steps, right? Um, I really think that advocating for housing vouchers is great. Uh the mayor beat me to it, but I was going to mention the US House passing the housing package that they passed last night. So I think there's opportunity for partnerships to be built. Um I think one of the things that we don't really talk about as much when we're talking about a full holistic approach to housing that we can do that doesn't necessarily fall in your area. Um but zoning reform, right? I think we know that we have a lack of affordable housing. So, how can we as a city look at our current processes to streamline the creation of affordable housing specifically? I mean, I'm a supporter of looking at all our entire zoning reform. Um, but I think the need really exists in affordable housing. So, as a city, that's something that I think we can look at that that doesn't cost necessarily financial impact on us. Um we but we can encourage the creation of a more affordable housing if we make it as streamlined as possible so that these affordable projects uh pencil out right and that then we can deliver um housing units for those most in need that are needing that affordable housing. So I just wanted to mention those points before. Um but I do have a few uh followup just questions around this. Um when shelters are full and I know that one of the things is like we have to also build or find a path to create more permanent supportive housing. But currently if our shelters are full and we don't have any housing available um what does that process look like after uh so that we can ensure that um the our unsheltered folks that are dealing with homelessness are not displaced or I guess what solutions what's the next step in that if we have no options? >> Sure. Mayor, members of council, Councilwoman Hernandez, I'll I'll start and then I'll kick it over to Scott for for his input as well. But I will say that that's one of the tenants of this plan is we have a clog in our system in shelter. People come into our shelter system and sometimes stay um uh too long in that shelter. If we had some of these some of the um initiatives that we call for in this plan where we could rapidly exit people who really just need a small amount of assistance, that creates more flow in our shelter and creates more availability in our shelter. So, um I will say yes, we we have uh we typically our teams can typically get people into shelter. Just last week from Monday through Friday, I had all my teams send me at the end of the week how many people they got into shelter and the OS team alone got 57 people into shelter. So, that's a little more than 11 people a day into shelter or other indoor environments. Um but I'll let Scott handle the your the second half of your question as well. >> Thank you, Rachel. Mayor, Councilwoman Hernandez, members of the council. Uh, every person we address at a case by case basis, but when we come up to that barrier of where there might not be an available shelter bed, specifically maybe one that the individual wanted, a type of shelter, uh, we go down the whole gamut of available resources. It could look like going to detox if substance abuse was a primary need, which then could give us a little more time to find shelter capacity. They have access points for mental health stabilization if that's one of the key components. It also gives us a little more time to find shelter availability. We also have other things besides shelter. I want to remind everybody too that shelter is kind of a last resort too for I mean if if there's other things on board, we have uh halfway houses, we have sober livingings and other type of opportunities like that that we tried to go into as well. Um but also if if all those uh are not available and that's not an option, we do follow up and follow up with the individual where they're at uh to get them into. So if we might not have one together, we can confirm with uh you mom say that it's a family. With family, we usually stabilize in a hotel so we get there. We don't want any kids having to be on the street. We don't want anybody to be on the street, frankly. So I think that goes without saying. But for an individual, we could follow up with them the next day, maybe where they're at or where they know they're going to be and coordinate that. A lot of people do have phones or emails where we can coordinate with them as well. So those are a lot of the available resources that we use when we're engaging with people that are unsheltered. >> Okay. Thank you so much for that. Um and then my next question is um what metrics are being used to track uh enforcement action of our unhoused population you know including sight and release arrest or services provided. >> Mayor, members of council, Councilwoman Hernandez, I wouldn't have that information necessarily. I will say our our teams do coordinate with police when needed when there are criminal activities, but we don't have any data on enforcement actions. >> I hope that's something that maybe PD can get me later. >> Okay, perfect. >> Mayor, Councilwoman, we can provide that data to you. >> Sorry, Laura, I totally skipped over you. You didn't see you there. Thank you. Um, and my next question is what like what path do we have as a city to really challenge some of the displacement we're seeing because of rising rents, um, speculative development, and just the landlord practices, right? We've like we have an AG that has to taken action against some of the landlord and price fixing situation. Um but is that what path do we have as a city to combat some of those issues? Mayor, members of council, I think that's Councilwoman Hernandez, I think that's where we really work with the human services department on their predictive modeling and prevention programs to really target the limited resource we have on the on the people who we know without that resource would become uh would experience homelessness. So, I think that's my my best answer there. >> Thank you, Rachel. Um, and then my next question is, do we capture data on how many people exit to um permanent housing versus cycling through shelters multiple times? >> Councilman Hernandez, yes, we absolutely do capture that data. Um, and we do it by project site. So, we we certainly know how many people are exiting our two permanent housing from each one of our city-owned shelters or our city funded shelters. And then we also do know um thanks to Bloomberg Associates who worked with uh Clutch Consulting uh a national consulting group helped us with some data on the numbers of return to homelessness that we see systemwide in the in within the city of Phoenix and and so that number is roughly 20%. >> Okay, thank you so much for that. Um my next few questions going to throw them out to staff and see who can tackle these. Um you know historically we've seen the city move in a way that has invested in criminalization of behavior um in our by unsheltered people in the parks. How are we ensuring that new new ordinances that we pass do not lead to increasing uh criminalization of our homeless population? Um, I don't know if we're looking at that, but is there a way to for that to be added or being a piece of looking at the overall report and plan? >> Mayor, members of the council, Councilman Hernandez, I definitely think that is something that um we could collaborate um internally with the police department and OHS to determine some key metrics to keep an eye on. It is certainly not our intention to criminalize homelessness. Um however, we do partner together to address issues that you know continue to arise with repeat offenders in certain um areas whether that be a park or somewhere else where someone is repeatedly committing a crime in a particular area and they may also be experiencing homelessness and the best way to address that collaboratively both with services and sometimes with enforcement if needed. Services are al always our preference. However, sometimes we have people who are very resistant to services and ultimately um do enforce the laws that they are breaking. So, we can watch that data and see what that looks like over a period of time and we're happy to collaborate internally on that as I mentioned. Um but there are times when enforcement is the action that needs to be taken. >> Thank you. No, and I appreciate that. Um because there's a a balance we have to take as a city, right? we have to uh recognize that we have people that are struggling with homelessness and that we also have to provide safety for our community safety, right? And so I understand that it's a very delicate balance that we have. Um I just really firmly believe that we should not be taking an an enforcement step first approach first and really trying to solve um get them help that is going to get to the root cause of the issue for and I think that works well for all of us. Um, you know, this is another question and Lori, this might be in your wheelhouse. Um, I believe I know I've had conversations around uh the city using our Phoenix police air support to find encampments. Uh, how much money is being spent on those operations or what does that cost look like? >> Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Hernandez, um, unless I am mistaken, I'm not aware of the air support unit being used to specifically to identify encampments. that may be a byproduct of other patrols that they happen to be doing. Um, but I can certainly talk with the police department about that. Um, but I am not aware of that being a primary focus of the air support unit at all. >> Okay. Thank you. If you could do that follow-up, that would be really appreciated. Um, and my last question is, um, I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but District 7 is really in a a unique circumstances when it comes to homelessness. Um the bulk of the city supported shelters and the services uh are in district 7. Um what kind of district specific data are we collecting on this issue and is that also being collected um per district? >> Mayor, members of council, Councilwoman Hernandez, so we have um uh Phoenix Care specific data that we share with the all of the different council districts um in our monthly briefings. So, we have all of the the Office of Homeless Solution data as it relates to Phoenix Cares cases and resolved cases um for every district. >> Okay. Thank you. And that will be continue to be incorporated into how we develop our housing or homelessness plan moving forward. >> Counciloman Hernandez, I anticipate so yes. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Um actually one more thing I just kind of wanted to mention um on the uh better coordination with around behavioral health. Uh I know the Vera Institute has done a lot of research around why um around this specific issue as far as like the tie of criminaliza criminalization for homelessness in relation to behavioral health. Is that something that you are have looked at or um can you look at some of the research that Ver Institute has around this topic? >> Uh thank you mayor, members of council, Councilwoman Hernandez. Um we look at um both regional and national data and research to you know help guide how we are implementing our programs. So we will continue to to look at things like that. I will say we've been really focused on folks with like co-occurring high needs. So it's not necessarily just behavioral health. It might be folks who have behavioral health and substance use or you know different types of even physical health needs. So we've been really looking at programming for just more complex uh longer stayers in our system and really targeting interventions that are most appropriate for those folks. And I know Scott's been working really closely with um you know the regional uh behavioral health system as well. >> Okay. Thank you. That's very encouraging to hear. It is you know we do have individuals that are just have more complex issues and just need more uh wraparound services and support. Um well thank you. I just really appreciate you know all the answers to the question to the to all my questions repeatedly not just today. Um and it should be no surprise to anyone that I am hypervigilant on, you know, in ensuring that our humane enforcement approach doesn't become a guise to to increasing punitive action for our residents that are struggling with homelessness. Um continuing to lead with criminalization doesn't work. It shouldn't be acceptable and it really makes the problem worse. Um criminalization really leads and keeps our residents in in an ugly cycle. um it leads to, you know, them having a record. Because of that record, our residents can't get a job. Their mental health suffers, they can't stay permanently sheltered. Um folks don't want to go into temporary shelter or don't know about what is available. Um and then they end up back on the street. Now, they have a mental health issue, uh or could have a mental health issue, a record, and no housing. Um and this is really a circular and complete it's a circular issue that will continue and not really productive for what we are trying to do to get to the to the solutions that really work. And I am going to keep saying it that criminalization does not work as a solution to homelessness. It really is investing into housing and other measures that get to the root cause of why people are facing that issue in the first place. Um, I also want to remind us that empowering personal responsibility uh of individuals experiencing homelessness has to be partnered with institutional accountability um and action. So, I'm actually encouraged that accountability is mentioned in this presentation and the report. Um, as a city, we need to pass more bold housing policy, rent, and eviction assistance, and continue to work with our state legislative partners on forwardthinking solutions that will help us deliver uh solutions to our shared constituency. Homelessness is a housing market failure and a p policy failure. It is not an individual or personal failure. a city that will not increase increase housing for working-class families and middle inome folks isn't a city that's going to take ending homelessness seriously. Um just two final thoughts that as we engage and have engaged with uh people that with lived experience um we also need to look at how we can bring them into the decision-m power. um our policies will be stronger if we really take into account the experience of the of our folks that have lived experience around this issue. Um I really say that from a place of personal experience. Uh I don't know how many people know but back in after 2019 after my brother was killed by a Phoenix police officer, Ed, you were the city manager that opened up a path for myself and other families to work with the police department to change operations orders. Right. So, we had a very direct way that our lived experience was shared with Lori. I don't remember if you were a part of that conversation, but in the work in the years to follow, right, we were able to share our our lived experience to help change the operations orders that our department follows. And so I think taking that approach when we're talking about homelessness would be worth the the time and effort to really bring them in to help us craft better policy and find real solutions to get to the heart of this issue. Um and finally, I just really want to thank you all again. I want to thank the entire um Office of Homelessness Solution um but every other every other city really that has a hand in this because it's not one department alone that's going to solve this issue. it's really going to be all of us working together on finding those solutions to get to the root cause of this issue. Um, including the council, right, and all of our partners on the outside. So, you have my endless thanks um to continue this work and find how we're going to continue the investments, right? Because these are really investments that we're making um into solving this issue. Um, I'm proud of of supporting this work. I'm I'm proud to continue to support this work that you all do. It's no easy task and I think I'd rather have my job than yours on this, but um please consider us a partner. Know that the District 7 office is here to help um and how we can continue to make solid investments into root cause solutions and really uh help, you know, just deliver real solutions for all of our residents. So, thank you so much for all the work that you have done. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Pestor. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I want to begin with uh really thanking uh past uh colleagues that were here in the forefront of 2022 of recognizing uh building an OS department. And I want to give grace uh to the vice mayor who has now uh taken uh the lead in that space and has really brought the plan to the where where pl the plan to where we need it and and continue to evolve because it's it's not going to stay still. It needs to evolve. Uh our environment changes rapidly almost every day and we have to shift. So I want to thank those that uh have led and are leading uh currently in this space. Most importantly I want to thank the staff uh because staff uh gets the heat of all of this and uh has to listen to us and say what is happening in our community and then they listen to our community and it's just a revolving door of frustration at times. Uh but in that revolving door we see uh light uh we see also uh love and we see humanity in in our environment as because we cannot forget uh those that are in this space are also humans and are suffering and have feelings too. Um so I want to set that there. uh Bloomberg Associates. Um, bravo because you were able to get us to where we need to get to and we needed that extra lens and ex expertise and the whole other uh um kind of department of researchers and uh people that could get us uh into the space and think the way we need to strategize and critically think. uh using the limited resources we have. So, I do want to thank Bloomberg Associates. Um most importantly, uh District F is probably the most impacted uh by homelessness. And why I'm saying that is it because it's the most urban and dense in terms of population. And uh I have been having multiple listening sessions to discuss this issue. And what I'm hearing is res residents are frustrated. And I have to calm them and remind them that it's not an easy answer to solve. And even with all the tools that we have, it's bigger than what we have because we need housing, we need services, we need beds, and we need additional dollars to continue, which is that's where I hope uh those that watch us uh from other cities and other counties and states understand that we need help. And if they want Phoenix to solve it, we can solve it. we need their money to solve it. So, I'm just putting the plug out there. Um, and so I just find this plan a very holistic hitting the different areas that we recognize and know it's now in a very organized manner. Not that it wasn't in the past but we have a vision in the sense of uh looking at data looking at the impact where do we need to shift if impacts not happening there or where what we need to add uh safety I heard about safety safety is the biggest concern across all our districts uh not only for those that are unsheltered but those neighborhoods those businesses and uh what is needed in in order to be safe. And so, um, I I understand it and get it because I hear it every day. Um, what I want to say is we are seeing progress. Even though we say we're not seeing progress, we are seeing progress. And, uh, what we're doing is fine-tuning and just building on what we have and making it, expanding it, and making it better. One of the items that um I had heard was um increasing provider capacity and quality of service provided. Um what does that mean? Mayor, members of council, Councilwoman Pastor, I'll start and then I'll have Scott um jump in as well. So, as you know, we have a limited number of nonprofit providers in our community. They're they're wonderful providers, but we we as a city in the last few years have really made the transition from funder to provider. So, we're having a more hands-on approach. And our approach has to do with improving efficiency and effectiveness of our city-owned sites. And that that means improving the capacity and improving the effectiveness of our of our nonprofit providers that we partner with at those sites. Scott, if you'd like to jump in. Thank you, Rachel. Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, thank you for asking that question because I was looking for the opportunity to one acknowledge our providers that we've had in our community. For decades, our providers have been trying to do so much with so little. Um, and the American Rescue Plan Act provided us some opportunity to show that we could get a lot of big work done with resources and resources that had accountability and transparency tied to it. We want to build off that. We want to continue to support our providers in in the work they do, hear their voice because they're front lines. They might know best in certain situations of how to do things. We want to open our minds and and our resources to that, but we want to be involved with them because we want to be able to make changes at the moment instead of having to wait for a contract amendment or wait till the next year with the refunding of a project or defunding of a project. We've proven that when we're involved with our providers hand in hand, swimming in the same direction and pivot when needed, when we see a barrier that's an unnecessary barrier that we can get out of the way or when a small resource can make a big change and serve a lot more people, we want to be able to do that right then. We want to be able to communicate to you immediately what those barriers and what those resources needs are. So that's it's all that encapsulating. If we raise all all the waters, all the ships rise, we can keep going and and seeing the improvements that you've seen and start seeing those exponentially. >> Thank you for that. And then I'm going to go to the next bullet and it's just more of a a recommendation or how you would embed this. Um it says better connections to paid job training and employment. Uh, one of the experiences that I have had or uh, continue to have is that when we place people in a job training program, the employer needs to be prepared for what they're going to receive. And what I mean by receive is there might be a space where they may be facing a difficulty outside of their employment. And an employer really needs to be trained in that space in order to know how to handle and guide and mentor in a job opportunity. and really most importantly patience and understanding. And so as you look at that bullet, um, my recommendation, and you don't have to take it, you could take it or leave it, is to really put some employer training in there and really put some possibly um mentoring the employer in the in a counseling space of this is what you're facing instead of frustration. Um, because we want it to be successful. And the reason why I'm I'm saying this is because these are the struggles that I see when we give internships to young students uh in the high school age and there's a high job expectation but they don't realize they have to be on time to their job and then that becomes a cycle of frustration for the employer. So that's that's I was looking at that and and just sitting here and studying it and wondering um thinking I better should give that suggestion. Um dedicated housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. We know that's the key. We've always known, it's just now officially and it's always been in our our plan, but a little bit there's a little bit more strategy. The term on um improving outcomes and placements for from shelter. Something was said because I wrote it down. It said neighborhood safety. That was mentioned. What does that mean, Councilwoman Pastor? So, just in general, improving outcomes and placements from shelter. So, we're trying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each one of our shelters. For example, our our our shelter that has the best positive exit rate is Rio Fresco. It is the only non- congregate shelter that we have. It's a former hotel converted into a shelter. C uh Community Bridges, Inc. owns and operates that site. Has a 56% exit to to permanent housing. So 56 of the people 56% of the individuals who go through that site exit to permanent housing. That should be the standard for all of our sites. We should all all of our sites should have that high an exit to permanent housing. >> Okay. But I'm trying to get to neighborhood safety. Like it was mentioned neighborhood safety and I didn't I didn't understand the correlation. >> So Scott, do you want to >> uh mayor, members of the council, Councilman Pastor? I don't know specifically which one, but neighborhood safety is kind of been layered throughout the plan. Um because when we improve our neighborhoods by reducing unsheltered homelessness, reducing blight, reducing waste, that neighborhood safety automatically improves. We also don't want people to be exiting shelter negatively, which then causes issues in the community as well. We want to get our staff in our shelters, highly trained in all the strategies to get a positive exit. It isn't always just waiting for a voucher or workforce. There's all kinds of components involved in that that create to where we can get a positive exit instead of a negative exit for an individual, which would probably mean them going to the street. >> Okay. And one last one. What is master leasing? I think I know what share housing is, but I I would like to know the definition or what definition you use. >> So, Councilwoman Pastor, so a master lease would be say if the city of Phoenix were to be the lease holder of a block of units. Um, and then the city of Phoenix controls or subleasases to people experiencing homelessness. in the model that we'd like to move forward with, we would then um work with individuals staying in our shelters and we would help them get into those master leased units. Um so master leasing just would really just means that the city of Phoenix or or a third party provider would be the the lease holder um and then uh have ability to place individuals from our system into those units. And then shared housing is uh is probably too technical a word, but it just means roommate situation. So putting two individuals into the same unit um save on costs and and house two people in in one unit. So, um improving our system flow there as well. >> So, it's like a dorm except it's housing. >> Yes, exactly. Just I mean, I've had a roommate previously in my life. So, I just think it's something that we need to um normalize a little bit in the homeless service system. When you exit, you could exit to housing with someone maybe you met in the shelter system. >> Let's just hope they get along. And one more uh this is my final. Um I'd like to give a shout out to our homeless leazison. Our homeless leazison do incredible work and really do God's work in the sense uh they're on the ground and and helping individuals that could possibly be in crisis, need a extra hand, need someone to listen or uh direct to services. But I want to in particular do a shout out to Victor uh Victor and I and my team have worked very very closely with him in in several of my areas and he has been very successful in getting people uh service getting people to services and into shelter and really looking at different hotspots in the area of what is really what is happening in that area and why uh there's many people in that area good or bad, but I want to give a shout out to him and and the rest of the district for uh leazison that are out there. Um I really appreciate them and so thank you for your work. Thank you for Thank you, Mayor, for allowing me to speak. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Stark. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh first and foremost, I want to thank staff. You've done a terrific job. And I agree with Councilwoman Hernandez. It's not just the Office of Homeless Solutions. are other departments that have stepped up to really try to address the issue and I do agree that there is a lot we still need to do and especially in planning and development. I think there is a lot we can do with regards to the way we permit. We should be able to expedite it and get these houses built. So, there's a lot we still can do, but I do want to comment on a couple things and one is the neighborhood outreach and education. I think by far you guys have done such a terrific job with that. And just like Councilwoman Pastor, I want to give out a shout out to Jackie. We're lucky to have her. And um I think that you've been able to get out into our neighborhoods and really make a difference. And I'll use the example, and I know Scott, you were there, Black Mountain Community Alliance, maybe three years ago, you went and you got eaten alive. I can't think of a better term. and you went back about a month ago and you got nothing but praise. I think you've done an excellent job of explaining issues and making sure neighborhoods know they need to be a part of the solution. And I got to tell you, the time that you talked about your personal experience, Scott, at one of my neighborhood meetings, I think moved everybody to realize we're all human and we all can make a difference. you did such a terrific job and I think you really changed the course for a lot of my constituents and that is doing excellent outreach and I really thank you for that just like we have Cleo Lewis in our uh district same story spectacular guy and people can relate to that. So the work you guys do with neighborhoods is so vital and I hope you keep it up. I really do appreciate it and I do think we need to cultivate those private partnerships. As you know, I'm a big fan of the House of Refuge in Sunny Slope and they're doing terrific work and they really do help fill gaps that you can't fill. So, I hope you continue to enhance those type of partnerships. But one thing I did see that I felt was missing a little bit in the plan was regional partnership. I think we need to really build those regional partnerships with both the county, other cities, and with the state. I had uh the opportunity to go see uh the new supervisor chairwoman be sworn in, and she talked about how she wanted to do a pilot project with the city of Phoenix on eviction. And I thought that was exciting. And she also talked about how she wants to find additional funding to help with the issue. So I think as we go through this plan, let's to remember that we have to strengthen our regional uh capacities as well. I think it's very vital. But again, on a personal level, thank you so much. I got to tell you, my neighborhoods, they'd rather see Jackie than me because she's always got the answers. So thank you again and thank you, mayor. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. I'm confident that they want to see both of you. Counciloman Gardado. >> Thank you, Mayor. as well. I I want to thank staff um for all of your hard work. Um we've definitely come a long way since 2019 um when we were talking about um you know there was a point that safety was the number one issue that residents were talking about and that very that shifted very fast in in 2020 for it to be homelessness. So I appreciate um the comprehensive approach um that this team has definitely taken. I I know um for everyone here, Rachel, um the first day we met, I knew that you would do an amazing job. You know, as the person in charge of the department, so very grateful to have you on our team. Scott, your dedication, your story, everything that you have done since the moment that you walked in. Um has been um pretty pretty amazing for everything that we have done. Gina, walking into that role as an as as a new person in coming back to the city of Phoenix, I thought that's been very impressive and everything um that you've been able to get done. And there's a lot um that this city that the city has done, the comprehensive approach that we have taken to tackle a lot of different things from creating a cap program for creating our own office of homeless solutions and being creative. I remember um touring the Haven. I think it was Councilwoman Stark. Was it 2020 when we started the Haven? >> I think so. >> Yes. When we started the Haven and we talked about we needed to do something different and being able to see um how that was a huge success. I'm very proud to have the Haven now in district 5 and the success stories coming out of there and now we have a name for Motel 8. It's now going to be called La Pera. I don't know if I'm raining on your parade. Um, but I think that's very exciting of what we're able to do and and just remembering the neighbors um saying not in my backyard and for us and for you guys as homeless solutions being able to change the narrative, being able to show people um that we can deal with homelessness in a different way, that we could have facilities um that are safe and that and that they can be in somebody's backyard. I think that has been pretty impressive as well. I'm not saying that we're done. there's still a lot of work to be done that we still need a lot more housing. We still need uh to figure out a lot of these evictions. Um but the other thing that we have to figure out and I know that it's a conversation that a lot of us have been having is talking about um wages. How do we do a better living wage um for people um here in the city of Phoenix? Because part of the reason why people become homeless a lot of the times and a lot of the stories that I've heard um being out there and talking to all of you is people not having enough money to be able to pay their rent. Um and that's a huge issue and as everyone knows here, I've been a huge advocate um for for wages and people being able to make a living wage to be able to pay for for their basic needs. Um so I'm excited for that conversation for when it comes. Um, but I'm very happy um to work with all of you for everything um that you guys have done and that we have been able to do as a team and and I'm very proud to say that things have changed a lot in the LA in the last six years. And um Vice Mayor, thank you so much for tackling the issue on your committee and for everything that you've been able um to do for all of us. Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you so much. We'll now go to public comment and the very patient Jennen Sumner. Mayor Ggo and members of the city council, I certainly appreciate the positive differences, the coordinated efforts of NSD, OS, and PD are making in our neighborhoods and all the work that went into these into this strategies to address homeless plan. Thank you. The section over overview of key strategies neighborhood safety initiative one states develop a streamline plan process for enforcement that balances services with existing enforcement excuse me I apologize let me try this again services with enforcing existing laws what's happened is as I was listening each of you I find that I have seen so many of my comments that I have a better understanding of what the plan is about so thank you for that. But one thing I would would like to talk about is that I think that we need to look at the code of conduct and the no camping ordinance because situations have changed in our parks. We no longer just have shopping carts, but now we have all kinds of containers. Also, park staff and rangers have explained to me that that the city attorney's office states that using a tent is not cons constitute camping. Yet, Miran Webster defines a tent as a tool for camping. This interpretation has allowed individuals to use our parks to camp, sleep, eat, and spend all day and evening rather in our parks rather than accepting services. Under weather relief planning, I hope the the um the initiative will include consideration for locations. For example, when the Soro Library closes, the only options for individuals refusing additional services are to sleep outside of the library or go to the parks and neighborhoods or businesses. Thank you to the mayor and council and thank Rachel. Thank you for your leadership. You've certainly made a difference. And thank you to everyone at the office of homeless solutions and I agree with a shout out to Victor and I would also add Pam. Thank you. Thank you so much for that important testimony and council moment or count vice mayor Hud Washington, Councilman Robinson and I have been talking about doing more around the Sarro Library and and the parks in the area. So, and as the police department and office of homeless solutions because we know that that is an area of focus. Uh thanks for that important testimony and uh I think we are ready for a motion. Councilwoman O'Brien. >> Thank you, Mayor. I request um I move to approve the 2026 strategies to address homelessness plan. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. >> Should we do roll call? >> Councilman Wardo? >> Yes. >> Hernandez? >> Yes. >> O'Brien? >> Yes. >> Pastor, >> yes. >> Robinson, >> yes. >> Stark, >> yes. >> Wearing Hodge Washington. Oh yes, I apologize. Wearing >> I'm sorry you didn't hear me. Yes. >> Thank you. Hodge Washington. >> Yes. >> GGO. Yes. Passes 90. >> Thank you and congratulations. We next go to item two, solid waste financial status and rate update. And we'll invite our public works department and team forward. >> I'll introduce Alan Stevenson, deputy city manager, to start the item. >> Thank you, mayor and council members. We're here to discuss a proposed residential solid waste rate adjustment by the public works department. The residential solid waste collection services for the city are an enterprise funded budget item. As the council knows, this means they do not receive any general fund monies to pay for collection costs and the longtime long-term life cycle management of solid waste. These costs are paid by residential customers via their monthly bills. The department is proposing an adjustment to the fee to cover the rising operational costs and to ensure long-term viability of this critical public service. Fees cover all associated expenses including operations, capital improvement projects, debt service, and indirect costs of solid waste. Approximately 86% of the division's funding is derived from the residential solid waste fee that are charged to cover the service cost. Here with me today uh to discuss the proposal in depth is public works director Felipe Moreno, assistant director Laura Zelda Staler, and deputy director Samantha Tvarez. I'm going to turn over to Felipe and the team. We'll be happy to answer any questions after we're done with the presentation. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, mayor, members of the council. Um happy to be here to talk about the solid waste services we provide and then the status of our financial fund. Um, the solid waste division of the public works department provides an essential public health and safety service to over 425,000 customers across 517 square miles. We work diligently to ensure that we're providing safe and efficient services in our delivery. And we are also laser focused on continuously looking for operational efficiencies year-over-year to find better ways to do our business and also control costs wherever possible. Um due to unforeseen rent, due to rising costs such as inflation and just general things getting more expensive that we've seen around the country, uh the financial status of our fund is facing a shortfall and we are in need of a rate adjustment in order to continue to deliver the services that our residents rely on and deserve as well as maintain the health of the fund. Before we get into the crux of the presentation, I do want to show a short video um to just highlight and underscore the multitude of services that solid waste provides our residents as well as the operational complexities that go into providing the service and managing the city's waist stream daily. Which way? Apologies. We'll get this up as soon as possible. >> Mayor, I'm personally loving these because none of them are boomers and they can't figure out the technology. Thanks, Every morning we rise with the sun. Driven by service, committed to our community, our dedicated team of more than 600 solid waste waste employees works tirelessly to keep Phoenix clean and safe. We support 425,000 households with weekly trash and recycling services covering 517 square miles. But we're more than just solid waste collection. We are people. We are trucks. We are infrastructure. We are Phoenix Public Works. People are at the heart of our operations. Most visibly are more than 300 solid waste equipment operators. They are in the streets every week in your neighborhood collecting residential trash, recycling, green organics, and bulk trash. Behind the scenes, our mechanics ensure our trucks are up and rolling every day. Our dedicated team takes care of your garbage and recycling safely and efficiently. When you have questions, we have answers. Customer call center agents work directly with residents, addressing concerns and providing solutions, while field specialists help promote clean communities, directly supporting neighborhoods in their efforts to reduce solid waste. And we don't waste an opportunity to engage with the next generation. Our zerowaste team is face tof face with our youth, helping them understand the importance of proper recycling and sustainability. Whether it's through facility tours, school presentations, or outreach at public events, these efforts help us secure a strong future for our city. Essential to the mission is our fleet. Every year, each truck plays a vital role in collecting and processing nearly a million tons of trash, recyclables, and green organics in the city, traveling nearly 5 million miles a year, which is why investing in our infrastructure is critical. As the fifth largest city in the US, Phoenix proudly owns its own transfer stations at 27th Avenue and North Gateway. Each one includes a materials recovery facility. The results 113,000 tons of recyclables given a renewed purpose every year and staying clear of the city's landfill. Waste diversion is all-encompassing, including not only recycling, but also composting and processing green organics. Results that carry weight with 38,000 tons of organics processed at the 27th Avenue compost facility every year. And we're ready for more smart solutions like the up andcoming resource innovation campus which will transform waste into usable products. These are all critical components to our waste management strategy which also includes the state route 85 landfill in the city of Buckeye owned and operated by Phoenix. Our team goes above and beyond to manage and maintain this active landfill and safeguard the environment. Additionally, we maintain five closed landfills put in place to ensure the health and safety of our growing community and the environment. For decades, we've invested in Phoenix's solid waste services, proudly delivering best-in-class service. Today, we are more ambitious than ever, working toward becoming a zerowaste, sustainable city by 2050. An achievable goal accomplished together using our greatest strengths, people, trucks, and infrastructure of Phoenix Public Works. >> Every morning we every morning. All right. Um before we move on to the presentation, I would just like to publicly thank the solid waste staff out there um who are going to work every day picking up the trash, the recycling, the bulk trash, um working to support our residents in the community, our environmental specialists, and those call center agents that are taking those calls every day, as well as all the people behind the scenes processing that trash at the transfer stations, at a recycling facility, and all the way out at SR85 landfill. very proud of this team and just want to say a big thank you to making sure that they are managing the city's waist stream in a safe and responsible manner. And with that, I'll turn the presentation over to Lorie Zelda Stellar, assistant public works director who oversees our solid waste division. >> Thank you, Felipe. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, members of the council. As the video highlighted, our solid waste team is completely dedicated to preserving the health and safety of our city and the the community impact that our team provides every day is significant. Starting with servicing 425,000 households each and every week. We are collecting recycle and garbage for our residents every week. We process and collect 1 million tons of material, whether it's your recycle, garbage, green organics, and these are processed through our city facilities. Every year, we make 457,000 direct customer contacts. Those are co contacts that our staff are directly working with our residents, whether it's through a call to our dedicated call center or through our foreman or field specialists that are actively working with neighborhoods to provide them solidar waste solutions with any of their concerns. In the first year of inception, the appointmentbased bulk trash program collected 152,000 bulk trash piles across the city. We are a logisticsheavy operation. We travel 5 million miles every year collecting and delivering um our recycle and our garbage to our city facilities across the large city footprint of 517 square miles. We do that with over 650 pieces of heavy pieces of equipment, our collection trucks, our yellow iron, our tractors. This is all important to our operation. And one impressive statistic to share with you today is every day our dedicated solid waste equipment operators are collecting 170,000 containers every day. That's not a week or a month or a year. That's every day. Today they did that. This operation relies heavily on resources. Those resources are our people. As a video highlighted, our people are what deliver these services to our residents. We employ 626 employees across the division. Our trucks, our trucks are essential to the operation. This is what it's collecting from our residents homes and bringing it to our city facilities. And our infrastructure, our infrastructure is vital to processing all of the the city's waist stream. That's our transfer stations, our recycling facilities, our compost facility, our active landfill which is in the city of Buckeye, and our five closed landfills throughout the city. And the solid waste operation works very hard to meet a lot of the local, state, and federal health and safety regulations. So since we last met to make a rate adjustment, we have experienced some significant rate pressures when our costs and those cost drivers that directly impact our operation are driven from our people. Since 2020, we have seen an increase in our costs of staff, 32%. This is primarily attributed to the recent class and comp study and wage adjustments that were made in 2023. But this is has been a good thing thanks to the leadership of mayor and council. Um adjusting those rates have really benefited the operation and we are able to attract and retain CDL operators. Our equipment we since 2020 we've seen a rise in our equipment costs. A standard collection truck in 2020 cost $333,000. Today that same truck is $510,000. our infrastructure. So, as I mentioned, we own infrastructure, our recycling facilities, our landfills, our MURF, our transfer stations. Any construction costs related to maintaining this these assets have seen an increase of 40% since 2020. And with that and infrastructure, I'd like to take a moment just to highlight how Phoenix is different than most cities and most municipal solid waste operations. We have city assets. The city of Phoenix has invested nearly half a billion dollars in its solid waste infrastructure. This is infrastructure like you mentioned that the landfill, the transfer station, our compost facility. But why is this important to Phoenix? This is important because we are investing in our in our future. Phoenix Phoenix has over a hundred years or up to a hundred years of landfill space where most cities don't have this. They're very finite. We have set ourselves up and for the future for future years and generations to come and we've positioned oursel in a way to safely and reliably handle the city's solid waste stream. And it also ensures the future of our financial stability when it comes to the solid waste fund. So like the rest of the country, we're not immune to inflationary pressures. Many countries, many cities across the nation are having this very discussion when it comes to their solid waste rates and many rates across the nation have been adjusted to adapt to these rising operational costs. Let's talk a little bit about solid waste inflation specific to the garbage and trash consumer price index. This is an index that is tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistic and it tracks and collects the average prices paid by consumers for their disposal services. As you can see, year-over-year since 20 2020, we have been feeling these inflationary pressures ending last year with a little over 5%. And this particular index is actually a lot higher than the general consumer price index for inflation. So we are not alone. Um we've been tracking the other our sister cities and valley cities across the the region and since 2020 each of these cities have made adjustments to their solid waste rate including ourselves. Given we have been feeling these inflationary pressures over the last few years. As Felipe mentioned, staff has been diligent in figuring out ways how we can drive these costs down as much as we can within our control. There are actions within our control such as operational efficiencies that we've been able to um incorporate into our business. So, um such as maximizing the landfill space at SR85, which prolongs the life of that landfill. Um we actively and are pursuing those opportunities. alternative funding sources. Our team actively and continuously seeks funding sources. We did secure $10 million in ARPA funding and that $10 million was applied to retrofitting and upgrading our 27th Avenue recycling facility which we proudly opened last year. There are two other actions that we can take which are difficult to pull but we have pulled them. that is deferring our vehicle purchases and adding positions for our customer growth and also deferring our infrastructure projects. Although this helps in the short term and saves us money, there are long-term negative impacts to doing this negative impacts to the point where it's compounding our expenditures over the out years and ultimately will be felt by our customers in the rate and the future rates. And with that, I'll pass it to Sam to walk us through the financials. >> All right. Thank you, Lori. Good afternoon, mayor and council. Our department is always reviewing our finances, whether it be through the city budget process or through our own internal updates to ensure we are as prepared with today's information for future impacts. And as staff reviews the solid waste fund forecast and makes updates, we are guided by the following principles. Protect and maintain efficient, safe, and reliable service delivery. Fund critical infrastructure projects to ensure system reliability and stabilize future financial impact to customers. Operate in full compliance with safety, environmental and regulatory standards and ensure adequate fund balance to minimize service disruptions to limited resources. The solid waste fund is an enterprise fun enterprise fund meaning all the revenues that we collect pay for all our operational costs. And the solid waste fund does not receive any support from the general fund. And there are three main components of the solid waste fund. Our operating budget, our revenues, and our capital improvement program. So, we're going to walk through all three. The first being our operating budget. And you want to think about this as the day-to-day costs to run the operation. So, we're going to go through our actuals that we had in the 2425 operating budget. The first being the biggest that shouldn't be a surprise, our people. 43% of our budget is dedicated to the cost of our staff. The next big piece is our equipment at about 29%. So, these are all the costs associated to keep our fleet healthy and includes all of our fuel costs. The third piece of our budget are contracts at 22%. So, unfortunately, our landfill is not in our backyard. It's over in Buckeye, the SR84 um 85 landfill. And so, our biggest costs and contracts is our hauling contract. So, those trips that are about 120 miles per day, that contract is our biggest portion in this piece of our budget. The next two slices includes our commodities at about 3%. That's mainly the purchases of our containers. And the last piece is others. And you can really think about this as indirect costs that the division has with interdep departmental charges. The second piece that we're going to move to is our revenues. And we're going to look at it from the revenues that we collected last fiscal year. So, as we've heard through this presentation, our largest piece of our revenue collection are our monthly fees. Last year, the division collected just under $190 million, which made up 86% of our revenues. The next, our commercial gate rate at $16.1 million, about 8% of our revenues. Think about landscapers that use our transfer stations and the cost they have to pay to in order to dump and receive those services. And these next two line items are our most voluntary sources of revenues. The first being our recycling revenues, which we collected 5.6 6 million last year which made up just about 3% of our revenue. So this is the amount that we receive on an annual basis of uh from our from the recycling markets of what we're able to receive. And the last piece being other, which really is this big bucket that includes our interest earnings, our delinquent fees, our equipment tradeins, and our land and building rentals that made up just less than 5% of our revenue. So in total last year, the solid waste fund received just over $221 million. The last component of our budget is our capital improvement program. So we look at it in a fiveyear span. So from 25 to 2030, we're budgeting just about $172 million on projects that cover both our post collected infrastructure, so think of our transfer stations and our landfills, and then projects to ensure that we maintain regulatory compliance with those um uh projects. And I want to go ahead and emphasize something about our capital improvement program because as Lori mentioned, we've done great work to move projects around to decrease the impact on the solid waste fund balance. And one of the big ways that we did this was we moved many projects out of our operating fund into bond funds. So we worked very closely with our partners in the finance department to build a bond strategy for the solid waste fund. And in order for us to have a successful bond strategy with the best rates possible, there needs to be a healthy revenue stream and bonds built into the forecast for future years. So the first item that we're going through here is what we call pay as you go or it's also known as payo where we're using cash on hand to go ahead and fund our infrastructure projects. This fiscal year, we've budgeted just over $13 million for projects. And you'll see in the remaining four years of our capital improvement program, we're only budgeting 5.4 million. And this was intentional. This was to go ahead and relieve the rate pressures for our customers because in our under other funds, which are mostly our bond funds, we're budgeting $55.9 million this fiscal year and the remaining four years just over 90 97 million. So in total this year we have budgeted $70 million in our capital improvement program and in the final four years just over hund00 million. Staff is constantly reviewing and updating our fund forecast in partnership with our finance department to ensure that we are the most prepared for our future with today's information. So on the graph that you see here, the first item that I'm bringing up are our revenues. And you you can see from the green uh the green line, it's staying relatively stable into the outy years. And now I've brought up our expenses. So if you look at our actuals from last year, you can clearly see our expenses were below our revenues. And that's attributed to all the work that staff has done that Lori spoke about where we try to really re in control of our costs. Um but unfortunately we're at a point where many of those levers that we've pulled to save costs are not enough for our future expenses because as you can see in the outy years beginning even this year our expenses are outpacing our revenues. So what does this do to our fund balance because of continued budget deficit year overyear our overall fund balance decreases decreases rapidly in the next se several years to the point of being negative. The division strives to stay above $50 million annually as an ending fund balance to ensure there's enough money to cover both our debt service and any large unforeseen increases to operations. But as you can see here, we are already expected to dip below that amount after this fiscal year and are in need of a rate increase. And as a best practice, it's important for the solid waste fund to experience modest annual adjustments to manage ongoing cost pressures and keep pace with inflation and industry specific cost drivers. This is an effort to prevent the need for sudden large and potentially disruptive rate hikes in the future. And as we heard earlier about the consumer price index, the CPI is just one of the ways businesses can help to understand and respond to inflation. So back in 2020 was our last rate increase. And prior to that, the solid waste fund did not experience a rate adjustment for over 10 years. And in 2020, what did we all experience? The CO9 pandemic, which caused a significant rise in global inflation. At the time of the 2020 approval, solid waste included a two a 2% inflation rate which you see here starting in 2022 and we just included the last in January of this past year. And while this was great forethought due to unforesee associated with our services that have continued to increase dramatically, it was not enough. We do not anticipate this industry inflation to decrease in the near future and this adds to the need for a solid solid waste rate adjustment beginning the next fiscal year. I'll now turn it over back to Lori to talk about our proposed solid waste rate adjustment. Thank you, Sam. As you heard, our department guiding principles really strive to be intentional with what how we plan our solid waste uh fund. The goals of the solid waste financial plan include really a high focus on our customers and ensuring that we can continue to provide the reliable and efficient services that our customers come to expect and deserve. our operations. Maintaining current operations and all of the city assets that we have invested in are critical so we can continue to deliver these solid waste services and meet our waste diversion goals and ultimately preserving the financial fund now and into the future. The proposed rate adjustment and taking these goals into consideration includes an adjustment that w was developed in working with the finance department. The solid waste rate advisory committee did review this the financials and the recommended residential rate adjustment in October and unanimously supported staff's recommendation with the 40 vote. That recommendation includes a multi-year increase starting this July 2026 of a $6 increase and another $6 in 27 and $5 in 2028. And what we learned with the last increase recom or approval in 2020, we do recommend including the inflationary factor, but this would allow staff to return every year to council. The inflationary factor would not exceed 5% but we would take the opportunity to review the financials every year, understand what the economic conditions are and provide a recommendation um and determine if it's necessary and what percent that would be at the time. Our curbside green organics program is also also has a recommendation. This program was one of our earliest diversion efforts that launched in 2012. The current rate for that um subscriptionbased program is $5 per can per month and currently it's um eligible to a little over 164,000 homes. The rate of $5 has not been changed since 2012. The recommendation for this program is to increase the green organics container rate to 1/4 the applicable monthly solid waste rate. So starting in July of this year, if the uh rate is approved, that $5 container will become $10.83 and it would align every year with the new rate. We believe that this rate still incentivizes our customers to use the program and divert green organics from our landfill, but it also recoups some of those operational costs in order to uh offer this service. If no fee adjustment is made at this time, they the city will have an inability to continue to provide these essential cellway services to our residents. we will be unable to maintain the critical infrastructure that we've so heavily invested in and we will not be able to comply with our regulatory health and safety requirements that um are part of this operation. With that, Felipe will finish the presentation. >> Thank you, Lori. As we all know, affordability is top of mind both nationally and locally. And so we are going to highlight a couple programs that we are focused on that help with affordability with those who might be struggling with their residential bill for s or for water or solid waste. First program is called project assist. This is a program that is uh offered by the water services and public works department funded by both departments and administered by the human services department. This program allows for residents who are having a hard time paying their monthly bill to tap into this fund to get assistance. Currently, the solid waste division provides $220,000 of support to the fund. And if approved with the rate adjustment, we would be doubling that contribution to $440,000, which would take the total threshold of the fund to $1.2 million. The second program that we have that many may or may not know of is the save as you reduce and recycle program. This program is really designed for those who continue to recycle like normal um but can stand to downsize their 90-galon container maybe a bag or two less in their bin that they don't use um they would be eligible to downsize and get $3 less every month on their bill. I know I'm one of those people that could do that. So um with that we have our next steps. So we are here today talking about the fund. We will now take February and March to then go into the community and provide listening sessions to really understand the community's input and feedback on the proposed rate and also explain the multitude of services that we provide. With the launch of those community meetings, we will also be providing a survey that residents can take in English and Spanish to provide that feedback as well. We will be returning April 22nd to formal counsel to um seek action on a proposed rate adjustment. If approved, we would then take May to June to program those rates and notify our customers doing an extensive outreach again to let them know what's coming. And then that effective rate would go into effect July 1 of 2026. Here's just a sample and we'll provide all of your offices with with this schedule of the proposed um or the confirmed community uh outreach sessions. We have nine meetings total. All of them will be um offered in uh Spanish translation, but two meetings specifically will be Spanish only. We are also offering a virtual citywide session for those who can't attend in person. Um and again that ser that survey will be provided both hard copy at these meetings and there will also be um the ability to take it online. All this information can be found at phoenix.gov/solidway or SW rate 2026. This is a dedicated web page that allows residents to understand um the need why we are asking for a rate adjustment. All the resources associated with it and services that we provide as well as the ability to take the survey and click on the link there and the virtual link for the listening session that's citywide will be available on the web page as well. We're going to be also providing toolkits to all of your offices with all of this information that is ready to go to use in your own media outlets as you see fit. And with that, this concludes the presentation. We'll be happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. We do not have any members of the public to comment on this item. Mayor >> Councilwoman Stark, >> thank you. Very quickly, um I I remember 2020, we had quite the robust um outreach for the public. One of the things I do remember us doing was holding a meeting at one of the senior centers to make sure our senior residents were apprised of it. Um, and so I I didn't notice I do notice you have one day meeting, but perhaps you could look at that. And then the second question is, of course, if we have a community chat, you'd be more than happy to come out. >> Mayor, members of the council, Council Stark, great catch on there. I did want to mention we are happy to come to any uh additional meetings that your offices have, coffee chats, community meetings, or if there's any specific neighborhood groups you would love for us to engage in, happy to be a part of that. Um we can also add and build out any additional meetings that you think would be beneficial for your specific districts. >> Yeah, I think that would be helpful. I I would appreciate that. And I I remember at that meeting, Ginger, the big concern was the weight of the actual trash bins for seniors. And then a lot of them learn about the great program that you guys have where you can actually row out um the bins for seniors who are not capable of pushing that he that heavy bin. So, it was a real successful meeting, but I think it's important. So, thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to Councilwoman Hernandez and then Guardado. >> Thank you, Mayor and Fiva. Thank you to every you and the entire staff. I know uh you have a I I know that the city's in a tough spot with this um because we haven't done prior to 2020, you know, it was a long time before there was rate increases and I understand that we have to raise the rates in order to continue to provide that service that our residents rely on every single day. I mean 170,000 containers every day like that's a lot right so totally understand the situation we are in um also just you know recognizing that these increases will um have a real financial impact on our Phoenix working families um so just have a few couple questions um you know rate increases rate increases typically burden low-income families the most um even while they may contribute they contribute less waste Do we have any data that shows us where in the city or geographical areas that produce the most waste? Mayor, members of council, councilwoman Hernandez, specific data um that is something that we we can get. Um but we do have an idea. So we have the two transfer stations. We have North Gateway and we have our 27th Avenue. Our 27th Avenue by far is our busiest. So that services the majority of South Phoenix and West Phoenix, eastern the Awatuki area. So that's going to be our busiest proportionally processing the most garbage versus our north gateway, but if you're looking for specific sectors, I mean, that's something that we can we can work to get. I don't have that right now though. >> Okay, no worries. Um, maybe we could follow up set up a followup to go over that. Um, thank you so much for that. Uh, and have we looked at any models that use like an incomebased discount for lower income families? >> Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Hernandez, that is uh something we've actually been kind of noodling on. we we have not to this point because our structure has been the same and I hate to use it the way it's always been done but um that is as we mentioned earlier always looking for ways of doing better and efficient and and kind of figuring out how are we going to tackle this affordability issue moving forward because we don't see it going away and so that is definitely something we are um laser focused on we have actually engaged an economist um from Arizona State University uh to kind of help us understand economics in a more complex way in a way we might not be thinking about it and figuring out how there might be a structure that we can pursue or explore once our fund is stabilized to develop that for the future. >> Okay. Thank you, Philippe. I really appreciate just the proactiveness and recognizing we got to get a little creative and in for the long-term solution. Um, you know, I appreciated that part of the presentation you highlighted resources and support that we're going to be able to have for residents that might be a little impacted by the rate increases. Um, amazing to see 1.2 2 million in the project assistance program. Um, and I actually that's pretty great creative that we have the other one the save as you reduce and recycle. I I'm going to shorten it to RNR. So I'll start saying it that way. Um but in addition to that because affordability is just a holistic view and sorry not a a holistic thing that our our residents are being impacted by mult in multiple areas. Um so besides that uh have we looked at or are we looking to look at um waste contribution scale like a scale feature um for future rate increases once we kind of stabilize the fund mayor members of the council councilman Hernandez again you're reading our minds we're very focused on again reimagining uh what this division is going to look like in the waste industry so we are looking at everything on the table to figure out how can we best provide the essential services that residents um deserve and rely on. How do we do this in an environmentally responsible way? Waste diversion is a big piece of that pie. The more we can find creative ways to do other things with that waste that's going to provide prolong the life of a landfill, which is our biggest capital expense, right? And so we are always looking for better ways to lean into um technology, lean into creativity and waste diversion strategies. And then also to to the point I made earlier, figuring out if there is a new and better way we can structure um for the future to to help alleviate future spikes and to just really try to smooth out the impacts as affordability continues to be front of mind for all of us. >> Thank you so much. And you kind of uh answered part of my next question, right? Part of the uh one of the or in the video we tal it was mentioned the uh zero waste by 2050. So what kind of programming or Yeah. I mean, what kind of programs or ways can we get to that that would, you know, hopefully um help our help us with this long-term effect once we stabilize the fund. Um, I know some of the things like the team was t thinking through and just throwing this out there for you is um like uh repair and reuse programs, uh, community based sharing programs for used goods, um, you know, looking at ways how we can expand our recycling program. I know the apartment recycling is Can you share a little bit about apartment recycling because I can't remember what our conversation was about that or if there's an update that you can give us? >> Mayor, members of the council, Council Hernandez. So, by city code, we are prohibited from providing apartment and multif family recycling. We can do certain owned units, town houses under a certain threshold, but for the most part, that is handled by the private sector. We do engage with our partners um in the private sector regularly and try to help you know encourage and and and feel feel support that effort wherever possible. Um we have reciprocal agreements. Sometimes they utilize our transfer stations to provide recycling services where possible it makes sense. So we try to be a good partner in that space even though we don't provide that service directly. But to your other questions about how can we lean into and what types of programs are we doing? So, one of the things we are a leader in and our mayor has been very um on the forefront of this and in leading this charge nationally and internationally is a lot of our um circular economy projects. So, linear recycling is great. It's we've been doing it since the 80s. It's very successful. But that is very much a you you mine something, you dispose of it, you recycle it, and then it keeps going. circular economy is really finding a way to put that those resources back into the local economy and creating jobs, creating resources that way. Repair cafes is a great example. So, one of the things that we are focused on is our resource innovation campus housed in district 7. It is at our 27th Avenue Transfer Station campus. That uh master plan area is really focused on bringing commerce onto the campus that can do creative things that traditional recycling cannot do with our garbage stream. Not just taking the recycling stream, but the garbage stream and putting that back into the local economy and finding new and better ways to reduce costs and create create opportunities for economics and jobs in in the community. >> Yeah, thank you for that. And it sounds like we're on the path to do that. So, really appreciate all the hard work on on this. um can't stress enough how thankful I am to the entire team for what services you deliver for our residents every day. Um and I really appreciate the extensive list of community meetings that you are going to hold to make sure that our residents are aware of the increases that are going to be coming. Um really curious to see how that public engagement goes, but please don't hesitate to tap into our office to make sure we help get the word out about those community meetings that you are going to be hosting. um and how we can help just make sure we're we are getting the education out to the community and getting their feedback on the surveys and any other methods. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Gordado and then Councilwoman O'Brien. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um well, once again, thank you guys for all of your hard work um and everything that you guys do. I know that you guys have um changed plans and done a lot of things to make things a lot smoother for our residents and working um with what you guys have. And I um I definitely um approve of what you guys are doing and um looking forward um to continue to working with you guys. But just something that I'm looking at the meetings. I just have a request. Um we have here that the Washington Activity Center um that meeting will be conducted in Spanish. I would recommend that we do that at the Mville Community Center instead. I think you'll have a lot more um monilingual Spanish speakers there. Um so I I think we should make that change. Um and then conducting the one at the at the WAC center in English and then translating into Spanish if needed. I think that's um majority of the people that will probably come to the WAC will probably speak more English than Spanish and more Spanish at the Mville Community Center. So if we can make that change, that would be great. And then we will send you um the list of events that we're going to be doing in the next couple of weeks so you guys can be there and and talk to folks. And I know we have other meetings that are coming up. So we'll we'll sing of the list and then we'll also help with turnout um for these for these states um and in making sure that we um that we inform everyone and that everyone is there and that everyone can see what's happening. and any brochures that you might have or any other information that you have, if you can give it to us so that we can put it on our newsletter. And then um and then we have a couple blockatch meetings that are happening um this week and it might we'll ask um the different neighborhood leaders if they would love for you guys to come and do a presentation and like that you guys can cover a a lot more ground as well. But thank you for for your hard work and everything you guys are doing and looking forward to the partnership. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you. We'll go to Councilwoman O'Brien and then the vice mayor. >> Thank you so much, Mayor, and thank you for this very um thoughtful presentation. I have a quick question on I think it's slide 18 which showed your solid waste fund forecast um and how the actuals of fiscal year 25 actually were slightly lower than the revenues brought in. Um, I I wanted to know was that the case because you you did say you had done some cost cutting measures and so did those cost cutting measures include pushing projects out as well as delaying hiring staff. >> Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman O'Brien, correct? Yes, it was all of those actions taken that were on that slide. Each of those contributed to our ability to come in under at that one point in time. And as Lorie Zelda mentioned, you know, deferring, adding people, deferring buying or replacing more trucks and capital projects, while it's helped us in that short term one time, um it won't help us and carry us through um in the long term. But all of those contributed to that. >> And I think everybody understands, right, the the delaying people, right, because then you're you're doing more with less kind of concept. But can you talk a little bit about what the impact is and delaying the purchase of newer trucks and and other equipment that you might need? >> Absolutely. Mayor, members of the council, Council Councilman O'Brien, great question. So, trucks are our biggest asset in delivering the service and like any of our personal vehicles, preventative maintenance, keeping up on maintenance is very important to prolonging the life of the asset. And when uh we are unable to replace vehicles on a on a regular cadence, the cost of ownership becomes higher than the asset itself. And so that just drives up our our maintenance cost to keep them on the road. Um they're on the road longer. And then we have to then not only replace that truck, but replace it with an asset that's a lot more expensive. Um with capital projects, same thing. So most of our capital is labor intensive at the landfill. So digging holes, digging those landfill cells to make sure we are keeping cadence with customers disposal rates to ensure that we have always have space for residents as well as the transfer station um in our tip floors. So there's all those assets that um again like our personal homes, if we don't keep up with them, they cost us more in the long term. And so we've deferred everything we can while being responsible, making sure we don't have fatal flaws. Um, so we were able to get them um, deferred to a point, but we're at the point now for but any more deferral we're we're getting that risk of something costing us a lot more because that asset is going to have a higher failure rate with a higher cost associated with it. If that answers the question. >> It it does. Thank you very much. And then um I'm I am pleased to hear about the resources and support we have for for residents who just ask relative to um actually both of them. How is that information shared with residents? >> Mayor, members of the council, Council Brian, that is going to be shared on our dedicated web page. We have it posted on our regular public website. Um, human services department has they administer that program. So, they have multitude of um resources that they share along with this program as part of their toolkit of community support at their service centers, things like that. So, they've been a big advocate for making sure that that's just part of their suite of um overall support that they provide communities. So, it's it's available there. Um, we will also continue to make an extra push through our web page, through our uh socials, giving you all the toolkits to provide it to your socials. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the water department is a major contributor to this fund. And so, they put it out through all of their sources as well. So, um, the two utilities being a big partner in this program has ensured the success of it. >> And does that include the SE RNR program? >> The SE R&R program is specific to solid waste and that is on our website. um our kind of socialism. We're going to make a renewed push on that program because a lot of people were into it when it started, but it's it's a program that started with our diversion um green organics program. And so we just really need to dust it off and remind people that that's available and it's a good way to get a pretty good discount on your bill. And so we're going to continue to push that out through all the channels we spoke of. >> So can that also be included on on the bill in a way that says, "Hey, you know, I mean, I've been here for almost five years. I had no idea. Right. You become an empty neester or for whatever reason you're recycling more, you have less people in your house. It's a great way to save um the three I'm guessing that's per month. Yes. >> Correct. So, you know, everybody every little bit counts. So, I would ask any way we can get that um out there to folks. uh especially ways that I mean social media and website is awesome but I still have a dad who has a smartphone that doesn't know how to do anything but call and yes he emails but I don't know that he would go look for anything like this on his you know for public waste >> yeah council great suggestion we can work with our comm's office and the water department to find a way to really underscore that in the bill like a did you know this is a >> great thank you so much I appreciate all the information today. >> Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, want to start off by saying thank you to the public works department and the staff for this detailed and I think very transparent update. Um, we all know that solid waste services is essential to keeping our city clean, healthy, and livable. And I really appreciate the work that it takes to maintain reliable service to more than 4 thou 425,000 households across Phoenix. I want to acknowledge the financial pressures outlined in this report. Rising labor costs, equipment expenses, and infrastructure are realities that cities across the country are facing. And I really appreciate staff being proactive in bringing this forward before service impacts occur. At the same time, I believe any discussion about rate increases must be grounded in affordability, equity, and clear communication with residents. I appreciate staff bringing this forward early and framing this as an information and discussion item. My priority moving forward is to ensure we balance fiscal responsibility with fairness for residents particularly those who are most impacted by rising costs. Um I have a couple of questions as we move forward. My first question is related to um slide number eight the solid waste inflation. Um I have this personal bias that 2020 was an anomaly. Um and it's a very difficult benchmark in which for us to make decisions and I don't know what the index looked prior to the when our world changed significantly. I don't know if this is uh for example I see the peak in 2023 at 7.28% 28% and I see it also decline and I don't know um enough to know if whether or not historically we can anticipate this level of momentum up down the valleys and peaks or whether or not so if I can get a little bit of insight into that if there's any >> sure mayor and vice mayor I can go ahead and answer that question so the garbage and trash index that's been um that we were providing here today has been something that the um US bureau of labor statistics has had since the8s And since then, probably before our time period that we showed from 2020 to 2025, the last really large increase, probably in the 8 to 9% range happened in the '9s. But even before 2020, if we look back at the data, and we we have it all, so we can provide it to the office to show you, it's still probably three to 5% year-over-year. And as Lori mentioned, it does uh for some reason track higher than your general consumer price index in the industry. >> Okay, thank you for that insight. And I would be I tried to Google it, but I figured you would rather let me pay attention versus trying to look at it while you were talking. Um, and then I also wanted to talk a little bit about um, we talked about some operational efficiency, the steps that you've taken so far to address some of our uh, expenses and I was curious as to how much do we anticipate we have saved as a result of some of the changes such as bulk trash um, pickup changes. Is there anything that you can articulate regarding those savings? >> Absolutely. Mayor, members of the council, vice mayor, um, a couple of the big efficiencies that we have done and you hit the nail on head. with one of them, which is moving our scheduled quarterly bulk trash to an appointment based model. Um that that program has allowed us to be more intentional with our routing. Um and really um if you remember in the old model, we drove every city street whether there was a pile or not. And we have about 25% of that customer base used the program at least once. So there's a large uh population that doesn't use the program, but we are still having to drive those streets. So, but moving to an appointment based model um that has reduced tonnage and helped us split a little bit of our mile reduction. We've tracked in our first year saving a million dollars with that program. And so, we're continuing, it's still fairly new, so we're looking to continue to track um how that how that looks. But that was one big saving. A lot of it was reduced tonnage as you um heard from the presentation that the landfill is an expensive place to take our trash because it's 60 miles one way. And so this has allowed us to reduce those trips to the to the landfill which has helped us save there. Um if you recall back at our tip a few months ago, we came and talked about the post collection operation in our landfill and very proud of the work of the landfill staff out there. They're a small but mighty team that is always looking for ways to maximize every cubic feet of airspace. and they were um able to provide some something called sliver filling where it was just a very tetrisy way to to reduce air space or or maximize air space within the existing cell which prolonged the need to dig a new cell and that saved us about a little over a million dollars as well. So those are just a couple of examples on our collection and postcollection side that have resulted in some tangible monetary savings. >> Thank you. My next question is understanding um slide 18 um I'm not suggesting that we wait until 2728 but I the way I read this chart is that's when we hit our tipping point for lack of a better word. >> So yes the slide uh mayor member of the council vice mayor that's the slide around our fund balance and that that is very accurate as to the point where as you see in that red that is the point where we become negative. So, it's very imperative that we act now before we get to that point as you mentioned where where we're in a crisis mode and we and we have to make a lot of other hard decisions that would put the utility at risk. And so, um, that slide represents the tipping point when we go negative and, um, which was really putting us on the trajectory that we're here today to start talking about that so that we can take action with enough time to support the health of the fund and grow that fund balance in a way that we can grow um, responsibly with with customer growth as well as keeping pace with replacing trucks and uh, following up on all of our waste diversion strategies that are also going to be efficiencies and savings in the outears. And if I may, Vice Mayor, add a little bit more to that. While that year that we see on the graph, we would be in the negative, I would say that this year, why we're here is because we're at a tipping point because um you recall we have a lot of bonds in the solid waste fund. And so in order to pay that debt service, in order to have that what a lot of people would refer to as a rainy day fund, which we don't we don't we would not really have to be show the numbers that we have. We do strive to stay above that 50 million mark and we're headed there um after this fiscal year. >> You anticipated my next question about the bond strategy and understanding the debt service um amounts that are necessary for us to continue that. Uh so mayor, vice mayor, um if you can ask that question one more time to make sure I give you the right >> understanding my so maybe I can my question was part of our capital improvement program requires us to have a revenue source to cover the debt financing on our bond uh issuance and I was wondering what that actual amount should look like. >> Got it. So what we're looking at with our bond strategy, we're looking to read about 20 million each year in our debt service. >> And is that the amount that would be encumbered that we have to pay or what we're hopeful to >> that is what we're projected to pay with the bonds that we have issued in the solid waste fund. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm jumping around here. Um, so I understand the financial reasons, the fiscal reasons for this. Uh, however, I have not been shy and explain and I'm concerned about the affordability impact to the residents of Phoenix. We know that the cost of many things continue to arise and this is no different. Um, my concern is that with this proposal, we see almost a 50% increase in three years for our residents. I don't do math in public, but I just added the percentages up. And I think it's a significant amount. And my concern is, have we done any done any insight into determining whether or not our residents can actually afford this? Because I understand us increasing the amount of project assist. And I my understanding is when we when I asked you about this is that currently helps about 2,000 families. My concern is are we and even if we double that and say that comes up to 4,000 families, is that really something that the other is the demand going to be more than we are able to sustain is my long question short. >> Great question, mayor, members of the council, vice mayor. Um, great question and that's something that we are continually working with our finance department and as I mentioned engaging that economist to help us better understand affordability not just how it's impacting our customers now but in the outy years so that we can be better informed on how we strategically structure our services and if there are any other financial strategies that we're not thinking about um in the trash industry that we could maybe explore um to to try to help um ease that impact in the out years. to this point, we we don't have that direct data on how that's going to affect households at this point, but we're we're heavily focused on learning more about that. >> And I'm just uh I have to be candid. I'm just concerned that making this decision without understanding how it's going to impact our residents is troubling for me. I understand our desire to continue the quality of service that we provide to our community, but um it is not lost on me that many of our residents struggle with affordability, especially in my in parts of my district. And it may seem like we are only increasing it by uh proposal to be increasing it by a total of $17. I I did math even though I wasn't supposed to, but that adds up for communities than and families where we talk about um affordability being a concern and I don't want this to just be another one. I would I would strongly encourage us to look for other avenues to provide other options for individuals to be able to um maintain a lower cost of um for our services. I understand. I'm not I'm not suggesting that we don't provide service, but I think I I like the RNR approach, which would net for the first year probably a $2 positive for each of our residents. But we I I I just encourage us to look for other options to do that as well. Um because I believe if you give residents choices, they can make they can make the decisions that best align with their financial obligations. I don't believe that we should simply say we're going to raise it and provide more funding in uh project assist to help individuals when we are not sure what the need is going to look like. So I feel bad that I'm the last person um speaking about um about this but I felt it I felt it was very important that I needed to share this. Um so I again I thank you for the detailed information and the transparency that you're bringing to this issue. Um, we have to make decisions like any other entity and we have to ensure that we have the resources to provide our staff, our equipment and continue the infrastructure. Um, I'm looking forward to community feedback as well and we've already started um sharing that information with our our in our newsletter um because I believe this conversation is very important to all of our residents. Um, our solid waste system is important to a strong, sustainable and accessible uh Phoenix for everyone. So, thank you for u receiving my feedback. Thank you for this presentation. That concludes my comments mayor. >> Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. Any additional comments? All right, with that, we are adjourned. This will continue with a >> Go ahead, Councilwoman. >> Mayor, >> sorry. Um, I have a a question. Thank you for the presentation. Uh one of my questions or one of the statements that was made was uh our number one asset was our equipment, our trucks and I believe uh the probably equal to that is are our workers, our employees. Um my question is more of in this process and this increase does this include reclassification um and uh wages in this increase. >> Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor. Yes. So, um, as we mentioned, a lot of the cost driver, um, around our people, that that 32% increase, that was part of the wage adjustment that our, uh, solid waste equipment operators and all of our solid waste staff were able to realize as part of that adjustment due to the leadership of you all, uh, when you made that decision. And that has really saved the day for us. If you all remember, um, I still have nightmares about the bulk trash days when trash was piling up because we couldn't hire CDL operators. There was labor shortages across the country. There was long haul and trucking shortages. And we felt that heavily and the community felt it. That class and comp adjustment has yielded best results in retaining and attracting skilled drivers. Um, and where we were maybe attracting 10 to 15 people at a a demonstration hiring event, we are now looking at 150 to 200 applicants every time we put out a recruitment for a solid waste equipment operator. and we're seeing less turnover of people just leaving for other opportunities. So, that's been extremely helpful and and that was contemplated in this adjustment. >> And that will also um include um increases for the future. >> Mayor and members of the council, Councilman Pastor, yes, that's factored into their overall compensation and and their annual reviews and increases that go along with that. Okay, thank you for that. Thank you, mayor. Thank you so much. Now we're adjourned.