PHOENIX — Angelo Manek says he came to Phoenix in 1995 as a refugee, escaping a civil war in Sudan.
Thursday was moving day for Manek as he stuffed all his possessions into a grocery cart while in "The Zone," an area of downtown Phoenix. After five months of living there, he is leaving. "It's like it's more than hell," he said.
The city will allow Manek to place his belongings in storage. He will go to a city shelter until he can figure out what happens next. "When your life is not the way you want it to be," Manek said, "I mean, you know," he shrugged trying to finish off the sentence.
City officials say they will meet the November 4 court-ordered deadline to shut down the encampment.
Austin VanDerHeyden, the Goldwater Institute Attorney who Goldwater Institute who supported the lawsuit by business owners and residents who live in and around The Zone, is confident that will happen. "I think there's hope and there is a sense of relief, and the hope is that the city just follows through, and it seems like they're doing that," VanDerHeyden said.
Once the epicenter of Phoenix's homeless crisis, The Zone is slowly being restored to the neighborhood it once was.
There are holdouts still camped along Jackson Street. When it's time for them to go, Phoenix hopes it will be able to move at least some of them a few blocks away to its safe outdoor space.
On Thursday, repurposed shipping containers called X-wing, airconditioned homeless shelters arrived at the site. "I think this is a great first step. I think that the temporary shelter and the structured campground outdoor space is a great way to help these individuals on the street access services," VanDerHeyden said.
As it works to take those experiencing homelessness off the street, Phoenix added 300 temporary hotel shelter beds. Angelo Manek has a shelter to go to, but 28 years after first arriving in Phoenix, he still has nothing but the promise of a dream unfulfilled.
