The second annual Sleep Out, held on July 29, is an event designed to raise awareness about the homeless crisis in Arizona. Since 2019, homelessness in the Phoenix region has increased by roughly 47%, with a growing number of individuals living unsheltered.
Homeless ID Project and St. Joseph the Worker are on the front lines of this issue, helping individuals obtain identification, secure employment and access stable housing. They are organizing the second annual Sleep Out at Culdesac Tempe, where participants will begin their overnight experience to raise awareness and funding for organizations helping individuals move from homelessness to stability.
Megan Loden, development director of Homeless ID Project, and Carrie Masters, CEO of St. Joseph the Worker, joined “Arizona Horizon” to explain more about the movement.
Establishing ID for those experiencing homelessness is one part of what these non-profit groups hope to achieve during the Sleep Out. Loden shared about the importance of being able to establish ID.
“It’s needed for the food banks, it’s needed for a lot of medical care, housing, workforce development training. A lot of these programs that our residents rely on in order to get themselves back to a place of stability absolutely depend on getting an ID first,” Loden.
Loden added that during the Sleep Out, it will also act as a “reflective space” for productive conversations with these non-profit groups on how they can better their work and support for the unhoused community.
Masters shared that for 14 years of her life growing up, she experienced homelessness. She said that it is “completely different” when you are an adult and spoke to her experience during the Sleep Out last year.
“I was extremely dehydrated, I was slightly delirious, I was highly emotional. And so recognizing that our neighbors are experiencing that and they don’t get to leave and go back to the comfort of air conditioning or a home is extremely eye opening to me,” Masters said.
The kick-off event for the Sleep Out will be held at the Culdesac in Tempe, the location for the sleepout itself is undisclosed. More information on the Sleep Out is featured on the Homeless ID Project website.
