As Maricopa County’s family homelessness hits an eight-year high, a 26-year-old poet has become an unofficial last line of defense for families the system says it cannot help.
The phone in Austin Davis’ pocket has become the most reliable address for dozens of families in Phoenix with nowhere else to sleep. For the past year. the 26-year-old poet and advocate has watched his screen light up with the same desperate sequence: a parent. evicted or fleeing violence. reaching out as a final resort after the official channels have gone silent.
His role as a de facto emergency hotline is a striking indictment of a system in disarray. While government agencies and multimillion-dollar nonprofits point struggling families toward 211. the reality for those calling is often a waitlist stretching for months or a dead end. Social workers. teachers. hospital staff. and even employees from the official Family Housing Hub have begun bypassing their own procedures. directing the most vulnerable to Davis instead.
In Maricopa County, the human cost of this failure is mounting. Official figures show 2. 103 people in homeless families this year—the highest total since 2015—though that number is widely considered an undercount. In late September. nearly 200 families sat on a shelter waitlist. a figure that excludes those who were never admitted. those rejected for failing to meet narrow eligibility criteria. or those who simply gave up after one ineffective call.
Candice Ortiz. a mother whose 8-year-old son was hospitalized for heat exhaustion after months of living in her car. became one of those callers. She spent her last $20 on a rideshare to a major shelter. only to be told she wasn’t “in the system.” Another nonprofit. the Phoenix Rescue Mission. offered a glimmer of hope at an apartment complex before informing her they had run out of funding. When she reached out to official channels. she was told that because she was sleeping in her car. she didn’t meet the definition of homeless.
The silence from the top is deafening. In April. Davis launched a petition calling on Governor Katie Hobbs to declare a state of emergency. a move supporters argued could unlock critical funding for shelter. Despite 5. 000 signatures and a letter delivered by a volunteer at a fundraiser. Davis has received no response from the governor’s office. Press secretary Liliana Soto noted that while the Governor is “deeply aware” of the challenges and has allocated $245 million for housing initiatives since 2023. emergency declarations are reserved for natural disasters.
Meanwhile, the bureaucratic friction continues. Davis’ nonprofit. AZ Hugs. has navigated its own legal battles with the city of Tempe. racking up 35 citations for trespassing and permit violations while hosting meals at “The Hill. ” a local park. In 2024. he pleaded guilty to one permit violation to clear the others. and in 2025. he settled a free speech lawsuit against the city after it revised its ordinance.
The irony is sharp: while the city spent time and resources citing a man for feeding the hungry. the infrastructure meant to provide shelter for families has struggled to function. UMOM. which received over $7 million in government grants last fiscal year. managed only 23 units and a dozen tents for families during a summer where temperatures peaked at 117 degrees.
In September. Davis opened an overnight shelter at the First United Methodist Church of Mesa. offering space for at least six families. It is, by his own admission, a Band-Aid. On a recent evening, families arrived with cars packed to the roof. Volunteers set up canopy tents with cots inside an air-conditioned room, offering a dinner of chicken penne pasta. By 6 a.m., the room had to be cleared.
For the parents settling their children into those tents. the reality is a state of perpetual instability that experts warn leads to permanent changes in child development. Davis remains at the center of this crisis. spending his nights raising money on social media for hotel rooms. waiting for a government response that. for now. remains nonexistent.
Phoenix homelessness Maricopa County AZ Hugs Austin Davis family homelessness Arizona housing crisis Governor Katie Hobbs