PHOENIX — Maricopa County landlords filed more than 87,000 evictions last year. Now, nearly halfway through 2025, organizations that help people avoid homelessness say they’re busy working hard to try to avoid another record year.
Chicanos Por la Causa has a multi-faced approach to housing, from spearheading affordable housing projects to offering supplemental funding for certain groups of families at risk of homelessness.
Program Manager Veronica Rivas said her office is answering around 300 phone calls a month.
“These calls are daily. There are some days there are more than others, and they're very similar, where maybe they're struggling to pay their rent, or they know they're going to be struggling in the next month,” Rivas said. “Maybe loss of job, loss of hours, and just really the lack of affordable housing, which is huge and makes it more difficult.”
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Rivas said she has very limited funding to help provide wraparound services for certain families with children in the Glendale, Cartwright, Issac, and Tempe districts.
But with the need extending beyond those zip codes, Rivas said anyone facing an eviction should always reach out earlier rather than later so they can get connected with resources that fit their needs.
“It's better to do it earlier than waiting, especially when you do receive a five-day notice, the days fly by,” Rivas said. “We're constantly looking to see if there are maybe churches that can provide assistance, or if there are other organizations that might also have limited funding.”
Eviction trends so far in 2025 show year-to-date filings up two percent in the Phoenix area compared to the same time frames in 2024 and 2023, according to Princeton’s Eviction Lab.
EVICTION RESOURCES
If you are struggling to pay your rent, here are some tips provided by the Justice Courts of Maricopa County:
- Do not wait! The moment you think you might have a problem paying the rent, let the landlord know. Some landlords will split the rent into two payments, others will work with tenants in other ways. Others, of course, will not. But start talking NOW!
- Look for help immediately. Do not wait until the hearing to look for rental assistance. Although pandemic-era programs have dried up, many cities or non-profit organizations have new or existing rental assistance programs that may help.
- Community Legal Services has FREE landlord-tenant help throughout the week. Their counselors will look at a tenant’s situation to see if there is some error in the paperwork or other “loophole” that may buy more time.
- Read the information on these websites for education and assistance:
