For families placed in motels by AZ Hugs, a room can depend on donations continuing to come in. This week, more than 100 people, including families with young children, had to leave a Tempe Motel 6 after an unpaid bill, and founder Austin Davis and volunteers searched the Valley for replacement rooms. Families checked out Tuesday.
An Unpaid Bill Upends Dozens of Families
Motel management told AZ Family that AZ Hugs owed more than $10,000 in back rent. The city of Tempe put the outstanding bill at more than $20,000. AZ Hugs has relied on donations to place families experiencing homelessness in motels; Davis has said the nonprofit typically raises between $7,000 and $9,000 a day to keep families sheltered. He found rooms for the families for Monday night, but the unpaid balance left the arrangement precarious.
Not every family accepted the help that was offered. The city of Tempe said some families declined services Monday, even as the Tempe Hope Homeless Outreach Team worked to connect people with other resources. Volunteer Robin Lippincott said crews picked up at least one family from a hotel to talk through their next steps, a small window into the chaotic, door-to-door effort to keep people from sleeping outside.
A Family's Fight to Stay Afloat
Angelica Reyes, who is pregnant, has been staying in motels with her husband and newborn after the family was evicted when her husband was laid off and their rent increased. She turned to AZ Hugs for help after hitting a wall with the city, saying she had sought assistance and was told she was on a waiting list, with people ahead of her. “I wish I could do better,” Reyes said, describing moments where she felt almost like a failure but was pushing through for herself and her children, according to AZ Family.
The Tempe Hope Homeless Outreach Team has worked with these families since mid-October, according to the city, and has connected with about 50 families seeking assistance overall. The team has helped families enroll or re-enroll with the Family Housing Hub, enrollment that prepares families for emergency shelter openings when space becomes available. The city also said many of the families brought to the Motel 6 had already experienced homelessness in other communities before arriving in Tempe, and that the additional need has stretched the city's resources.
Nonprofit Pushes City for $200,000 in State Aid
AZ Hugs said it had brought about 85 families to the Motel 6 since early October, according to the city of Tempe, up from the 56 families the nonprofit was supporting when ABC15 first reported on their situation. Davis wants Tempe city leaders to request state assistance to cover temporary shelter, and he has asked for $200,000 so that, in his words reported by ABC15, “our 85 families here can get shelter funded for the next 30 days.” Families themselves marched to Tempe City Hall to press the mayor and city leaders to seek that state funding.
Donations to AZ Hugs currently cover the families' rooms at $60 a night, per ABC15's reporting. But the city of Tempe has said it cannot legally hand $200,000 to a single agency without going through an open bid process, and that AZ Hugs is not guaranteed to receive a contract even if it applies. Tempe's interim community health and human services director told ABC15, “We wouldn't be able to directly fund an organization without having an open bid process.” The city said it already provides $1.1 million in grants to nonprofit partners each year through its legal and procurement process, but that AZ Hugs has not applied for those grants. The city also said that, to its knowledge, AZ Hugs did not apply for $16 million in state funding that Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Housing announced in October, according to the Arizona Governor's Office.
A Regional Squeeze on Family Shelter
The scramble in Tempe reflects a wider strain on family shelter capacity across Maricopa County. Nearly 200 families were on the county's shelter waitlist in late September, and the number of people in homeless families reached 2,103 that year, the highest level since 2015, according to locally compiled figures reported to the federal government and covered by ProPublica. Davis has raised money on social media to pay for hotel rooms for families who might otherwise sleep outside or in their cars, the outlet reported.
Tempe has tried to address the shortage before. The city purchased a Rodeway Inn on Apache Boulevard in 2021 and converted it into a 40-room shelter, and it later planned to renovate another motel into as many as 60 shelter units meant to house up to 120 people, according to 12News. Maricopa County also previously ran a Hotels to Housing program that provided bridge housing to more than 600 homeless people, per the Scottsdale Signal. In Tempe, a shelter called Sue's Espacio has been providing safe haven to eight families, including three who entered within 48 hours, according to the earlier ABC15 report.
County figures put shelter capacity in context
Maricopa County reported 818 households with children experiencing homelessness as of December 2023. The county also says UMOM's Family Emergency Shelter Program can shelter up to 160 families nightly. These are dated figures about homelessness and one program's capacity, not counts of motel placements or the Tempe shelter waitlist, according to Maricopa County.
As a separate regional precedent, the county funded 250 bridge-shelter units across four converted hotels through June 30, 2024. That program was distinct from the displacement at the Tempe Motel 6, according to Maricopa County.
Families gathered at Jaycee Park near University Drive and Roosevelt Street on Monday as the search for shelter continued, with Davis and volunteers working the phones for available rooms. Families seeking assistance can call Tempe's 24-hour Care & Hope Line at 480-350-8004.
