On any given day the Central Arizona Shelter Services (C.A.S.S) helps hundreds of homeless individuals living in Maricopa County, Arizona. In fact if it were not for C.A.S.S these people would literally have no where to go (see video: Moving Life Forward http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlht6ZcCmzk and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp76S8Nxw6M).
The C.A.S.S campus, located at 232 S 12th Avenue in Phoenix houses over a half dozen organizations including St. Vincent De Paul, Southwest Behavior Homeless Outreach and Referral Services, Nova/Safe Haven, Maricopa County’s Healthcare for the Homeless just to name a few.
All these organizations work together to serve the homeless population in Phoenix – and to this end they do a excellent job.
C.A.S.S is also staffed by dedicated professionals, many of whom really care about the plight of the homeless in Arizona, I believe.
Among them are the law enforcement personnel who guard and protect the vulnerable homeless population from the crime and violence associated with drug and alcohol abuse.
They include the officers of the Maricopa County Office of Adult Protection Service, who work in conjunction with the Phoenix Police Department to ensure the safety of the hundreds of homeless clients who visit and live at the campus as well as the employees and social workers who work there everyday.
Needless to say C.A.S.S. is a godsend to the people in desperate need of their services.
This is not to say that C.A.S.S. doesn’t have it’s problems. For one they are, in many ways understaffed and overwhelmed by the increasing demand for their services.
In fact on any given night almost a hundred homeless individuals or more are diverted to the “over-flow” shelter at C.A.S.S., which is located at 12th avenue and Madison Street. There they are forced to sleep outside in an uncovered parking lot surrounded by a chain link fence.
Many people who see the over-flow shelter for the first time are shocked by what they see (and smell in many cases). The sight of so many desperate homeless people, some in wheel chairs all crowed together like cattle sleeping on the black top of the parking lot without mats or blankets in temperatures that can range over 100 degrees in the summer time is very disturbing to say the least.
Worse yet, the parking lot where the people sleep is unsanitary and contaminated by bodily fluids like urine, blood, vomit and saliva. This attracts flies, mites, fleas, lice, bed bugs and rodents.
You see unlike bus stops which are power washed and disinfected by cleaners working under contract for the city, the parking lot where human people sleep are not.
In addition to the unsanitary conditions of the over-flow are the persistent problems of pigeons at C.A.S.S. There are literally thousands of pigeons who swarm the human services campus. The birds are attracted by the food. Many of the homeless people who frequent the campus leave behind food and in some case feed the birds there.
Pigeons represent a persistent problem at C.A.S.S. so much so that they represent a health hazard to the people living there.
Pigeon droppings dirty the public places, do costly damage to the buildings and property and can spread life threatening diseases, especially vulnerable are the people who are elderly, disabled and immune deficient.
Making matters worse yet the pigeons nesting material block drains, rain gutters and harbor parasites like bird mites. They also attract rats and insects, like cockroaches and ants.
Feeding the pigeons at C.A.S.S. are harmful not only to the people on campus but are also harmful to the pigeons themselves. This is because they lose their natural ability to scavenge and hunt for food on their own.
Pigeon over population leads to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at C.A.S.S. which is reflected in a number of sick and injured birds there.
Dealing with the pigeon problem at C.A.S.S. represents a huge problem – it also takes away money and resources which would be better utilized to help the homeless people who live there.
Unfortunately management at C.A.S.S. seem unwilling or unable to address the serious problems caused by the pigeons.
I’m not sure if this is due to a lack of funding or a lack of a basic understanding of some of the serious health hazards caused by the unsanitary conditions which plague that location.