{"id":335713,"date":"2025-10-27T09:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335713\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T09:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:19:15","slug":"phoenix-mail-room-for-homeless-people-loses-funding-propublica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335713\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Mail Room for Homeless People Loses Funding \u2014 ProPublica"},"content":{"rendered":"

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches<\/a>, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.<\/p>\n

Carl Steiner walked to the window of a small gray building near downtown Phoenix and gave a worker his name. He stepped away with a box and a cellphone bill.<\/p>\n

The box is what Steiner had come for: It contained black and red Reebok sneakers to use in his new warehouse job.<\/p>\n

Steiner doesn\u2019t have a permanent address. His letters and packages are delivered to a mail room for homeless people in the building at the Keys to Change campus, a collaborative of 15 nonprofit organizations that serve those like him.<\/p>\n

He and thousands of others have received mail here for years. They use the address for job applications, for medication, to receive benefits like food stamp cards and even to vote. And for 20 years, the U.S. Postal Service provided at least 20% of the mail room\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

But last month, the postal service ended its support of $24,000 a year because a nearby post office is \u201cable to fully serve the community,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement to ProPublica.<\/p>\n

Unlike a standard post office, Keys to Change allows people to receive mail without a government ID, a common problem for some who are homeless.<\/p>\n

This year, Keys to Change will spend about $117,000 to help 7,000 people get their mail. Although the cost is minimal relative to the nonprofit\u2019s budget, it\u2019s a \u201ccrucial part\u201d of helping people exit homelessness, said Amy Schwabenlender, the organization\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is a priceless thing that we can offer to our clients,\u201d Schwabenlender said.<\/p>\n

The loss of support from the Postal Service comes at a time of uncertainty for one of Arizona\u2019s largest nonprofit homeless services providers and similar organizations nationwide. Keys to Change says it will seek donations to keep the mail room open.<\/p>\n

But there will be less money for such services as President Donald Trump and his administration take a very different approach to homelessness than his predecessors.<\/p>\n

Trump is calling for large reductions to assistance grants<\/a>, as well as their restructuring. More than half of Keys to Change\u2019s funding comes from government agreements, Schwabenlender said.<\/p>\n

The president has also issued an executive order urging<\/a> cities to remove people who live outdoors by enforcing camping bans and institutionalizing those experiencing mental health or substance use disorders. The order also calls for ending support for programs that prioritize housing and services.<\/p>\n

With funding shifting to support a more punitive approach to homelessness, even small programs like the mail room could be strained. The loss of the Postal Service\u2019s assistance is not related to these budget cuts, but for providers it leaves one more gap to fill. Some, like Keys to Change, said they\u2019ll be forced to do more with less federal support as demand for assistance is increasing.<\/p>\n

Record numbers of people are looking for help. Last year, Keys to Change served 20,000 people, up from 18,000 the year before, according to the organization, which is also seeing the loss of COVID-era relief funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a definite air of uncertainty and fear, and that is both amongst providers and among people experiencing homelessness,\u201d said Donald Whitehead, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit organization that advocates for homeless people. Whitehead expects some of the Trump administration\u2019s changes will increase, not reduce, the number of people on the street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carl Steiner opens a box of shoes for a new job at a warehouse.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Ash Ponders for ProPublica<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First image: Moreno and Joe Medina in the mail room. Medina has worked there since 2019 and was a former Keys to Change client. Second image: Medina sorts through envelopes to find mail for the unhoused community the facility serves.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Ash Ponders for ProPublica<\/p>\n

Joe Medina has worked in the mail room since 2019 and knows some of the people he serves by name.<\/p>\n

A former client at Keys to Change, he started as a volunteer doing odd jobs on the campus before moving into a full-time job in the mail room. <\/p>\n

On a recent Friday, he meticulously sorted letters into alphabetized bins. <\/p>\n

Paul Babcock approached the mail room window and handed Medina an identification card. <\/p>\n

But Medina immediately recognized Babcock and handed him a package.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, I\u2019ll see you again soon,\u201d said Babcock, who has been homeless on and off since 2012 and used the mail room for all of that time. Babcock opened his delivery to find a sweatshirt. For the cold weather, he said.<\/p>\n

Babcock said having an address has helped him while he lives on the streets. He has received mail from the Social Security Administration, replacement identification cards about five times and chocolate chip cookies from his mother. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten everything from here,\u201d Babcock said.<\/p>\n

When people don\u2019t retrieve their mail, Medina sometimes tells others to put the word out so they know to come get it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ones who are coming for their mail are doing something for themselves, no matter how small,\u201d Medina said. Some visit multiple times a day hoping for a letter or a package, he said. But sometimes they leave disappointed.<\/p>\n

Medina greeted a woman by name, before retreating to check the bins. \u201cNothing right now,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n

In 2009, the Postal Service threatened to cut its funding for the mail room, according to reporting by the Arizona Republic. The contract had come up for review because the location doesn\u2019t generate revenue. \u201cWe\u2019ve been giving them a donation, and we can no longer do that,\u201d a postal official told the newspaper at the time.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service reduced its funding but didn\u2019t eliminate it and said it would create a \u201cpublic service\u201d contract for the homeless services provider. It\u2019s unclear if it moved forward with that plan. The latest Keys to Change mail room contract appears unchanged from the 2009 agreement, according to Schwabenlender.<\/p>\n

A Postal Service spokesperson declined to comment on the terms of the mail room agreement, calling such contracts \u201cconfidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Postal Service officials contacted the Keys to Change in May to inform the organization that the contract would end, they said the agreement \u201crequires financial transactions that include revenue generation,\u201d according to emails provided to ProPublica.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Is Your Medication Made in a Contaminated Factory? The FDA Won\u2019t Tell You.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, more people are entering homelessness than leaving. For every 19 new people experiencing homelessness, 10 people find housing, according to a regional nonprofit that coordinates homeless services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After Tammy Mcauley left an abusive relationship, her car broke down, causing her to lose her job as a housekeeper. She\u2019s been homeless for a year and most recently lived in a shelter. <\/p>\n

She walked up to retrieve her mail with her dog, Mousie, perched in a stroller. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it so that we can still be people,\u201d Mcauley said of the service.<\/p>\n

Later that day, a FedEx truck pulled up to the mail room. The driver dropped off two boxes from Walmart.<\/p>\n

Medina knew who they were for and set them aside until they came to get them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Medina greets a man outside the Keys to Change mail room.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Ash Ponders for ProPublica<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-335713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115445391981965568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}