Sedona council reviews regional homelessness plan, asks for targeted next steps

Sedona City Council on Wednesday received a needs assessment and menu of implementation options for a regional plan to address homelessness in the Verde Valley and asked staff to pursue further regional coordination, operational details and a focused, near-term proposal for the council’s budget discussions.

The presentation by VM Advising summarized a point-in-time count the consultants said was updated to 64 people in Sedona and an estimated 600 people across the Verde Valley who experienced homelessness over the past year. Consultant Matt White said the report breaks the population into three groups — short-term or “transitional,” episodic and chronic — and offered three tiers of investments Sedona could consider, from prevention-focused measures to a fully resourced regional response.

Why it matters: Council members, service providers and residents who spoke at the meeting emphasized that a regional, coordinated system is needed because people move between Verde Valley jurisdictions and many services and funding sources are already regional. Councilors asked for an implementation plan that clarifies roles, who would manage shared funds or tools (for example, a by-name list) and how Sedona’s initial investment would be scaled or matched by other jurisdictions.

The consultants outlined the scale of need and suggested interventions. “It’s 64, not 41,” Matt White said when updating the council on Sedona’s point-in-time count, and he added the broader figure: “about 600 individuals who experience homelessness” across the Verde Valley over a year. VM Advising presented a typology the team used to estimate likely service needs: roughly 60% of people experienced homelessness under 90 days (transitional), about 30% episodic and about 10% chronic. The consultants emphasized that modest, well‑targeted prevention funding can reduce the flow into more costly, long‑term homelessness.

The plan’s building blocks included: a flex fund for small stabilization…