(lively Latin music) - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte," a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens, I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

Arizona's homeless population jumped 23% between 2020 and 2022, that's according to a December U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

In Metro Phoenix, at least 9,000 people experienced homelessness.

The Arizona Town Hall recently held a session to talk about the intersection of homelessness, substance abuse and mental health.

I will talk to a woman who participated in that town hall, she brings a unique perspective to the problem, having seen it in her native country of Colombia.

But first, we hear from Cronkite News reporter Madeline Jaskowiak, who spoke with state lawmakers looking for a solution, and the homeless seeking help.

- Housing is a first step, right?

So let's look at rent cost, let's look at why people are losing their homes.

So we need to address rent control, we need to address why folks can't even access housing in the first place.

- They should come down here and see for themselves, and help them get housing, get rehab, get all the help that they need, like mental health.

- It's a fentanyl issue, it's an opioid issue, but it's also becoming a health hazard issue.

Business owners are coming out first thing in the morning, hours before their staff arrive, to clean up the human waste and the trash.

And these encampments that are now encroaching on their businesses, they're trespassing.

- Joining me now is Luisa Rojas Valencia, a Fulbright scholar and doctoral student from Columbia, who's been in Arizona the last six years studying traumatic brain injury through the University of Arizona Medical School.

It is nice to have you here, Luisa, thank you so much.

- Thank you for having me, nice to be here.

- So we're talking about this report, that along with the recommendations from nearly 2000 Arizonans, is now out, and serves as a roadmap to dealing with these intersection, intersecting rather, issues.

Tell me first of all how you became involved, what exactly did you do with your participation in the town hall?

- Yes, I participate in the town hall organized in the University of Arizona, in the finished biomedical campus, it's a few blocks from here, as a student, I saw the poster, the flyer, and I participate in this meeting.

The first part of the meeting, we get informed about the intersection of these three problematics, and then we have a discussion between each table.

- And this was the first time you've participated in something like that, how would you describe the experience?

- Yeah, it was very interesting, when I saw the flyer, I thought this is going to be a talk.

But when we start discussing in the small groups, with people with different backgrounds, different professions, ages, and that some of them are involved in, as first responders, as a social workers, was very enrichment, was very rich experience, to share that knowledge, and to propose new solutions for that problematic.

In my table, for example, there was a person that work in the jail system, a person that works as a first responder, another staff member of the university, and myself as a graduate student.

- So you had a lot of different perspectives there, let's talk about the issues in particular and what you learned from them, talking first about mental health, and what can you tell me about what came out of that, with regard to mental health, specifically among Latinos?

- Yes.

The specifically issue about mental health and Latinos is a big concern, because we know that our culture sometimes have this stigma on mental health, on reaching to resources to solve that problematic, and it's especially observed in men.

So in the town hall we also discussed that to solve that problematic, we cannot only involve mental health services, we need to involve also the people that is managing the substance use, and the homeless services, to come together and solve the problematic.

And also the community, we were part of the community, and as a community member we can help to de-stigmatize that problematic, to feel more compassion for family members that may have suffered, or be in that problem.

Another important point that especially affects the Latino population, or, is actually interesting, is that besides, Black communities and Latino-Hispanic communities share similar rates of poverty, the Latino-Hispanic community has less homeless rates.

And one of the explanations that we learn from the report is that one of the reasons could be that Latino communities have stronger bonds with their extended families.

And when someone is at risk of homeless, risk of being evicted, it moves to the house of a family member.

And during the pandemic, and after the moratorium, there was an increase of use of those resources, of Latino families receiving members, extended family members, in many households.

- What about substance abuse?

What can you tell us about substance abuse in the Latino community?

- Yes, the substance abuse is a problem that the numbers are probably not showing the real numbers up there, especially because there is a big stigma, also on the substance use.

So when a person started using the substance, may not reach to family members.

The problem with managing emotions, or mental health disease, may increase the susceptibility of using those substance, and the lack of feeling comfortable to reach all those services.

- So sometimes we're talking about cultural impact, - So sometimes we're talking about cultural impact Tell me a little bit about your perspective, because it is a unique perspective, being a participant in this, and what you were able to hear and learn, specifically because you are from another country.

Tell me about how you felt when you listened to this, and what your feelings were, initially, to all of the information that was coming out.

- Yes.

First, coming from Colombia, we have this idea, or at least I have it, that in developed countries you don't have those problems as homeless substance use, or just, mainly homeless.

And seeing the population in Arizona increase, especially after the pandemic, it's a big concern.

I move here before the pandemic, and live all that time here, and for me, it's hard to believe that one of the wealthiest countries in the world has a problematic.

But also, by my experience in the town hall, attending this meeting, it was a big surprise, and a relief, that there is organizations working towards approaching the community, increasing the services, and involving the community, it's an integrated approach, what this specific complex problematic requires.

- Well, let's talk about what followed the town hall, because nearly 10 months of group meetings took place across the state to find the pathways for moving forward.

What are some of the key findings and recommendations that were pulled together from all of those meetings?

- Yes.

One specific one is that housing is healthcare.

So given the increased rates on the rent in Arizona, specifically in Phoenix, that put a lot of population in the risk of homeless situation.

And to tackle this problematic, we need to assume resources from the community, from the different organizations, to finally give a solution that is definitive.

Also, it's important to treat, as we treat personalized medicine, that's an idea, right, for the future, get to personalize medicine treatment.

This problematic needs a lot of treatment as personalized, like considering if this person has a mental disease, substance use.

And that's the reason that leads to homeless, or could be the contrary, could be the homeless situation lead to substance use and the mental disease.

So as it's very complex, we need to integrate and consider each case different.

- Right, and we have to remove the stigma too, so people are doing exactly what you all did with the town hall, and that is discussing these issues.

So in your personal opinion, having listened to all of this and been part of coming up with some of the findings and recommendations, what do you think we as a community should be doing to address these issues?

- Yes, I think the first one, it will be, this is stigmatized, the problem, the homeless problem, the substance use problem, individually, and the mental health disease, but also as one single entity too.

And as a community, we also can participate in the town halls that are organized across the state, we can propose to host a town hall, we can get informed on the webpage of the Arizona Town Hall, and also donations, as I said.

And there is other organizations, also, in the Phoenix area and statewide that brings services, so involving one of those.

- Right, it takes working together for sure.

And we wanna let people know that they can read about the report and the recommendations by going to aztownhall.org, and that has all of the information, right?

- Exactly.

I also checked the webpage, and they have all this information, and all the channels for you to connect with them.

- Luisa, thank you so much, it sounds like you learned a lot, and congratulations on your studies.

- Thanks.

- You're done When?

- In August, 2023.

- Great, that's fantastic.

Congratulations, best of luck to you.

- Thank you so much.

- Appreciate you joining us and sharing that very important information.

- Thank you for the invitation.

- All right.

That's our show for tonight for "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS.

I'm Catherine Anaya, thanks so much for joining us, have a great night.