Phoenix City Council candidate says 'homeless belong in jail'

No one asked long-shot Phoenix City Council candidate and former mayoral hopeful Matt Evans to weigh in on what homeless people deserve. But he did anyway.

A week ago, the local nonprofit Cloud Covered Streets posted to Instagram about a proposed new Phoenix police policy to treat unhoused people with more dignity. That includes not detaining them without justification, not citing them for trespassing unnecessarily and not throwing away their belongings — all violations that the Department of Justice found Phoenix police regularly committed in a damning 2024 report.

Then on Tuesday, about a week after the original post, Evans slid into the comments.

“Most of these homeless belong in jail,” wrote the 38-year-old software engineer and occasional Uber driver.

Needless to say, Evans’ comment was not well-received. It received zero likes and profane pushback. Users called Evans a “piece of shit” or “full of shit politician.” Others noted the apparent incongruity with the homelessness positions on Evans’ campaign website, which says the District 2 candidate supports “solutions that show compassion but deliver real results.”

Cloud Covered Streets, which provides a number of resources to unhoused people, also responded. “You are a terrible human being and we will make sure we use our voice to help District 2 elect ANYONE other than you!” the organization wrote. “We wish you nothing but the worst !!!!” On Facebook, the group highlighted the comment in a post, saying that Evans “claims to stand for compassion when dealing with those experiencing homelessness, then comes to our social media and leave (sic) his trash comment.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-city-council-candidate-says-homeless-belong-in-jail-40627911/

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I guess 8 year old me deserved to be in jail.....