Phoenix was forced to clean up the homeless population from the area known as The Zone in Phoenix last year. Six months later, the latest Point-In-Time report shows the number of people that are now in shelters has increased by 15 percent.Business owners say it's a night-and-day difference since the encampment has been cleaned up. The theft, vandalism and fear invoked in employees are mostly gone, as are the tents along the sidewalks but business owners say more needs to be done.
"I went straight to a rack, not no bunk bed rack. Mine's a single man. Boy, they make me feel so good!" he says.For the last eight months, he has kept a steady job in construction, building apartments for a general contractor in Mesa. Like many of the people living in shelters, Robinson is working but it's not enough.