Mental Health, Substance Use, and Homelessness

A few months ago I was told that students at Haven Montessori wanted to talk about the problem of dog waste left in a nearby park and on the sidewalks outside their school. We discussed ways they could let the residents of Flagstaff know that this is a serious problem in their neighborhood and many other neighborhoods throughout Flagstaff. They came up with many creative ways to raise awareness about this unpleasant issue, including asking the Arizona Department of Transportation to change their highway signs to an anti-dog poop message! After meeting with these students, I approached Flagstaff Water Services and they reached out to Parks & Recreation and after a brainstorming session and a couple of organizing meetings, the “Poo in the Park” campaign…

I recently took some items to the “Fix It Clinic,” an event sponsored by the City’s Sustainability Section and staffed by community volunteers. Residents can bring items such as small electronics, toys, lamps, vacuum cleaners, bikes, and clothing while handy and creative volunteers will do their best to fix them for free. I struck up a conversation with Ward Davis, a long-time community volunteer involved with many great projects around town. Ward was working with two young men to disassemble items that couldn’t be fixed, but that contained parts that could either be repurposed or recycled. The entire event got me thinking about consumption and solid waste so I went back to the video of a presentation City Council received about the Cinder Hills Landfill…

Thank you to my fellow Councilmembers for supporting my campaign for Mayor!

Jim Babbitt honored at the 2022 Viola Awards.

Will eventually transition to provide permanent supportive housing.

Flagstaff’s housing problem is acute, and I know it can sometimes feel like not enough is being done to address it. I wish we had double the resources to tackle this problem, but we’re making progress—due, in large part, to the partnerships the city has with our non-profit housing partners combined with some smart investments of our resources. Yet, there’s still much work to do. First, I’ll speak to the housing programs led by the city’s housing section and some of the work of our non-profit partners. The City of Flagstaff Housing Authority owns two, and manages three, rental developments totaling 345 units serving low-income residents with incomes from 50% to 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The AMI is set by the U.S….