AHCCCS has awarded a new contract to two collaborative vendors who will provide housing and health care services in a new transitional housing facility for individuals experiencing homelessness and living with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) designation.
Copa Health and Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) have been selected to provide services at a new transitional housing facility to be built in downtown Phoenix at the northeast corner of 24th Street and Van Buren Street. The facility will include transitional housing for up to 70 residents, as well as an on-site health care clinic open to the public. Initial capital funding for the project was approved by the Arizona State Legislature and supplemented with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
“We are very excited to be partnering with the state and CASS to design an innovative, person centered/recovery-oriented transitional housing facility,” said Dr. Shar Najafi-Piper, CEO of Copa Health, Inc. “This progressive program will ultimately connect participants with complex care needs to essential services that deliver whole health, stable housing and independence.”
“We are looking forward to partnering with COPA Health and AHCCCS to open this smaller, specialized shelter to better meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness who also face serious mental health challenges,” said Lisa Glow, JD, CEO of CASS. “We hope to demonstrate a new, more effective, model of service for people with mental health challenges who are also experiencing homelessness.”
With this award, AHCCCS, Copa, CASS, and the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) will begin collaboration on the design and construction of the new facility.
When completed, the project will demonstrate an innovative approach to the current best practices of combined housing and co-located health care. The facility will serve some of Arizona’s most vulnerable citizens and support larger community efforts to address homelessness in Maricopa County.
Groundbreaking is expected to begin in summer 2022 with an anticipated opening in late 2023.
