Daniel is homeless for the first time at age 60 after losing his job last year. She describes this as one of the most difficult times of her life.

“I’ve always provided it for myself and my children,” Daniel said. “You beat yourself up, especially in the later stages of life, so that you can’t do that.”

But when she talks about this traumatic experience, she really doesn’t blame the landlord for bringing the eviction lawsuit against her. Her frustration comes as she talks about the weeks from lack of rent to stepping into a homeless shelter.

“We have a waiting list, we don’t have a phone,” Daniel said. “You leave a message for people. They don’t call you back. The process basically sucks.”

KJZZ agreed not to use Daniel’s last name. She is pursuing a new career and new housing, and is worried about the stigma that comes with eviction and homelessness.

Daniel said the stigma was unfair. She said she was not at fault for her own fault, found herself short on cash for a month, and was obsessed with getting unemployment insurance and rental assistance.

“I don’t know how many hours I spent on the phone trying to get somewhere,” Daniel said.

But it feels like she’s slipped through the Arizona safety net.

Katherine Davis Yong/kjzz

Daniel is not alone. Maricopa County had 87,130 Eviction Applications in 2024 – Best Record of All Time. That means about 14%, according to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab Last year, the county eviction rates were raised against them. The county’s eviction rate has been nearly twice the current national average 8% eviction rate since the years leading up to the Great Recession.

And while elected officials, affordable housing advocates and people in the housing rental industry agree that the rise in eviction cases is a problem, not everyone agrees on a way to solve it.

“Evictions are the worst case scenario and the last case scenario,” said Courtney Gill Strap Levinus, CEO of the Arizona Multi-Harding Association, the landlord’s industry association.

Levinus said that the main factor in this trend is the imbalance between supply and demand.

“Evictions are really a symptom of a big problem, and it’s a lack of housing, and certainly a lack of affordable labor housing,” Levinus said.

Katherine Davis Yong/kjzz

That lack Levinus leaves many people with room and sometimes more than they are behind.

According to Harvard University’s Center for Cooperative Housing Research52% of Maricopa County renters are currently struggling with costs. This means that you spend more than 30% of your income on rent. Approximately 26% of tenants in the county face cost security at severe costs, spending more than half of their income on housing.

It is held by city, county and state officials We made a large investment Over the past few years, it has boosted housing supply. And housing was one of the rare areas of agreement in deeply divided state legislatures last year when Gov. Katie Hobbs rejected dozens of bills. Several bills to alleviate the state’s affordable housing shortage He was handed over and signed to the law.

In fact, rent prices at Phoenix actually fell slightly last year amid the construction boom. According to an analysis of apartment lists.

Still, eviction applications have increased.

Those who are closely tackling the issue of eviction say housing affordability is one of the issues of eviction, but there is another important factor.

“Arizona has one of the quickest processes for evictions, and I absolutely believe that it will lead to an increase in evictions,” said Pambridge with Community Legal Services, a low-income Arizonan nonprofit law firm.

According to the Arizona Supreme Court, the entire legal process can occur from missing payments to removing rentals in Arizona. Bridge said the client would scramble.

“We have a short process from when tenants receive notifications until the time of their eviction hearing to actually be locked up. During that time, tenants are looking for resources, talking to their families, coming up with rent,” Bridge said.

Daniel, who became homeless after her eviction, said this was one of the most frustrating aspects of her experience. When asked if more time could have allowed her to avoid becoming homeless, she gave the overwhelming “yes.”

However, lawmakers cannot agree on this issue.

Democrat Sen. Analyze Ortiz introduced the bill this year. SB1173to slow the process of Arizona’s eviction court, she said it was also too fast.

“It sets people for failure, but it is also set to give our social services and safety nets a big emission,” Ortiz said.

After a tenant misses rent, the landlord must give him five days of notice before applying for eviction. According to about half of the states need more notices. Legal Services Corporation datafederally funded civil law aid agency. Ortiz’s bill extends that part of the Arizona eviction process to 15 days.

The bill was not given a hearing. The Republican chairman of the committee to which the bill was assigned declined to comment on why.

However, Levinus said it would be difficult for landlords to pull out the timeline of evictions. Evictions are already costly, she said, and if tenants can’t pay, slowing the process before they’re kicked out will only add those costs.

“We missed rent, court fees, attorneys’ fees and processing fees,” Levinus said. “At the end of the day, other bills for the owners will not disappear.”

Levinus said her organization supports laws to create statewide rental assistance programs and helps tenants facing short-term financial difficulties avoid missing rent payments.

“We need a lifeline for renters who have unexpected medical costs, car accidents, or temporary job losses,” Levinus said.

Arizona has conducted a variety of rental assistance programs at the state and county levels over the past few years. This is primarily funded by federal pandemic relief grants. There is no permanent statewide funding source for rental assistance.

But Democrat-backed bills to establish such a statewide rental support fund – Ortiz’s Senate Bill 1554 Rep. Alma Hernandez House Bill 2882 – Also, this legislative meeting has not been given a hearing in a Republican-controlled committee.

In the meantime, many tenants are still facing evictions. Over 7,000 eviction applications were filed in January and February of this year, with Maricopa County going well and seeing another very high year due to the eviction case.

Daniel finds out that troublesome thing.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re uprooting someone from your life,” she said.

Not all evictions will become homeless like her, but now people are homeless in Maricopa County, at almost twice the rate at which homeless people find housing. According to the Maricopa Government Association.

A year after her eviction, Daniel is in a new job and she is preparing to move to a new apartment. However, she is worried about the others she meets at the shelter where she is staying.

“Thankfully, I’m finding my way now, but some people can’t do that,” Daniel said.

She said something needs to change in Arizona.