The City of Phoenix, Arizona recently proposed an ordinance against medical care, harm reduction, and food distribution in its city parks. While framed as an issue of safety, the ordinance runs counter to proven methods that improve community safety. The ordinance marginalizes people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and should it go into effect, it will harm the people local street medicine programs serve.

The Street Medicine Institute partnered with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council to draft letters opposing the ordinance, and we are proud to share that 1,001 individuals and 105 organizations across the country and worldwide signed on to the letters. These signatures demonstrate the collective spirit of the street medicine community, as well as our advocacy for our neighbors living unsheltered and the street medicine teams that care for them.

The letters were delivered to Phoenix elected officials on May 5, ahead of the scheduled May 6 vote on the ordinance. Click below to read the organizational and individual letters.