John Giles, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’ pick for Lieutenant Governor in her reelection race, was accused of helping move homeless people from California to Arizona.
Tyler Bowyer of Turning Point Action posted on X, “Former Mayor @JohnGiles4AZ signed onto a program during the Biden Administration that streamlined sending homeless people regionally from California to Arizona, creating pathways for thousands of people who destroyed California to come to Mesa and Arizona as a whole. Sick stuff.”
San Francisco began bussing people out of the city to California cities, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and other states through its Journey Home program a couple of years ago. A similar program known as Relocation Assistance or Homeward Bound, which was started under then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, previously relocated 13,000 homeless beginning in 2005, and is now part of Journey Home. The homeless are not required to have accommodations set up in advance at their destination, and no one has been turned down for bus rides, The San Francisco Standard reported.
In California’s Humboldt County, county supervisors accused San Francisco of “dumping” homeless people in other towns.
ALL INside was a Biden administration initiative launched in May 2023 by the White House and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. It partnered federal agencies with select high-homelessness areas — including California, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, the Phoenix metro area (encompassing Mesa) and later Denver — for up to about two years. Giles as Mesa mayor and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego represented the Phoenix metro side at the launch.
The controversial program included an HIV outreach program and “creating safe outdoor spaces.” It provided presumptive eligibility for housing vouchers and supported local homeless programs, including Giles’.
Giles launched a program called Off the Streets which placed the homeless in motels and hotels. The program primarily used leased rooms at the Windemere Hotel in east Mesa. The program has served more than 3,400 people. The program is funded largely with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and related pandemic-relief dollars.
Critics blamed Giles’ policies, which included the hotel-based shelters, for contributing to increases in visible homelessness, drugs and crime in Mesa. Giles served as mayor from September 2014 until early 2025.
ALL INside failed to curtail the numbers of homeless. Regional Point-in-Time stated that the numbers of homeless remained level in Maricopa County. The numbers of chronic homeless increased 88% from 2020 to 2026. By January 2026, there were 9,726 homeless in the county. Mesa saw a notable rise in its unsheltered population in the 2026 count, roughly +31% year-over-year in one report.