Phoenix officials report progress on homelessness services, behavioral-health response and police reforms

Phoenix City Council members heard a six-month status report Thursday on a package of public-safety reforms the council approved in September 2024, including new shelter beds and outdoor safe spaces, expanded non-police behavioral-health response teams and updates to police investigation and use-of-force procedures.

The update, delivered by city staff, police leaders and the Office of Accountability and Transparency, laid out specific capacity numbers and milestones while identifying remaining hires, technology and audit work needed to fully implement the reforms.

City officials said the Office of Homeless Solutions has funded or created 10 projects over three years that together added about 1,200 indoor beds and roughly 300 safe-outdoor-space slots, nearly doubling the city's recent bed capacity. "Now that we are fully open, 280 individuals can utilize this site to work to end their homelessness," Office of Homeless Solutions Director Rachel Milne said of the new Phoenix Navigation Center in the Van Buren area, which the city operates in partnership with nonprofit providers.

Milne told council the navigation center opened in temporary capacity in July 2024 and since then the center has helped more than 400 people, with 58 moving out of homelessness into housing. The city's downtown safe outdoor space at West Jackson can host up to 300 people (200 tent spaces and roughly 40 non-congregate X-wing units); staff said the outdoor site has moved 218 people into shelters and 133 into housing since it opened.

The presentation stressed workforce and shelter-linked services. Milne said partners such as St. Vincent de Paul and Arizona @ Work provide job readiness, resumes and employer referrals to program participants. The city also described three property-storage programs intended to reduce one barrier to shelter entry; staff said the program has stored 215 bins of property and returned 23 to identified owners.

The council also heard progress on the Community Assistance Program (CAP), the city's alternative 911 response model that routes certain mental-health and non-criminal calls to behavioral-health responders rather than uniformed officers. D.C. Ernst, who presented CAP data to council, said "we have met 80% of our positions are filled" and that the city now deploys six behavioral-health units and six crisis-response units. Ernst said the city established 24/7 behavioral-health dispatcher coverage on March 31 and that the number of calls transferred from police communications to the behavioral-health dispatchers rose sharply after recent e-learning training for police communications.

Ernst said singular (BHU-only) responses resolved the majority of cases in February, with BHU teams handling 76% of calls they were assigned to that month. Average response times in February were 24 minutes for behavioral-health units and 23 minutes for crisis teams, staff told the council.

On policing and accountability, Phoenix Police Chief (retiring) Chief Sullivan and other department leaders described policy, training and investigative changes adopted since the council's September mandate. Sullivan said the department had revised the Professional Standards Bureau manual to set deadlines for investigations, requires written explanations for any deviation from disciplinary recommendations and clarified how Brady material is forwarded to prosecutors. "We have taken multiple steps to advance those initiatives," Sullivan said, adding the department had revised its use-of-force policy and provided two days of in-person training before the policy went live on Feb. 18.

City and department leaders described new oversight and transparency steps. The Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) and the Civilian Review Board have begun work reviewing investigations; OAT Director Shannon Yohani said OAT is reviewing 138 administrative cases and has published 22 reports. Yohani said OAT and the Police Department revised an MOU to clarify information-sharing timelines and that a single online portal for complaints and commendations is slated for a soft launch in late May or early June.

Councilmembers asked for additional performance detail. Several asked staff to provide longitudinal outcomes for shelter and program participants (for example, how many people who entered city-funded projects remain housed over time). City leaders said the data are tracked in the homeless management information system and that more detailed project-level outcome figures can be provided in a follow-up report and at committee meetings.

City leaders emphasized next steps: finish hiring remaining CAP positions, finalize a new records-management system and early-intervention software for policing, complete planned audits of policy compliance and publish additional community-facing drafts for public comment (including the canine policy and policies on interactions with people experiencing homelessness). Councilmembers and staff reaffirmed the council's earlier direction that the city will provide updates on public-safety reforms every three months for the next three years.

The presentation included dozens of operational details and timelines; council members thanked departing Chief Sullivan for his leadership and welcomed interim leadership, while emphasizing continued scrutiny and independent oversight as reforms move into implementation.