Phoenix will not relocate homeless from downtown Super Bowl party

PHOENIX — Some cities might try to brush them under the rug when big events come to town, but Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said that won’t be happening with the Phoenix’s homeless population during the Super Bowl.

“The homeless are part of our community, we ought to support the homeless,” he said.

Stanton said Phoenix will not be making any effort to hide the issue of homelessness despite the eyes of the nation settling on the Valley in the final week of January and the start of February as the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, Verizon Super Bowl Central and Waste Management Phoenix Open draw hundreds of thousands of people to Arizona.

“People think that when you have a homeless issue in your community (the solution) is to move homeless individuals out — we’re not doing any of that,” Stanton said. “No, there is no plan to in any way move homeless individuals away from downtown during Super Bowl Central.”

Arizona’s largest homeless shelter, the Central Arizona Shelter Services near 12th Avenue and Madison Street, also said there are no special plans in place for when the Super Bowl and Super Bowl Central come to the Valley and that the shelter will be operating as usual.