The organization A New Leaf this week closed its Mesa emergency shelter for homeless families. The organization faces uncertainty over federal funding. The closure comes as homelessness in the Valley is on the rise.
The shelter, La Mesita, for decades had offered 16 units where homeless families could stay for up to 120 days. It was one of only a few apartment-style shelters in the Valley where parents and children could stay together.
But the organization that ran the shelter, A New Leaf, was facing a budget shortfall of about $500,000, said spokesperson Tanner Swanson…