This week, following the City of Phoenix’s announcement that it achieved and surpassed its Housing Phoenix Plan goal five years early, Mayor Kate Gallegoand local developer Dr. Jessica Raymond penned and published an opinion column in the Phoenix Business Journal, emphasizing how the City has worked to increase housing choices for families of all sizes and income levels.
Of the 53,000 housing units created or preserved to date, 20.7% are considered affordable units, and 24.7% are considered workforce units, resulting in nearly half of all new or preserved homes in the city geared toward households earning 120% or less of the area median income.
Read an excerpt from the op-ed below:
We’ve all looked into the eyes of a person experiencing homelessness. The woman standing at the freeway exit, the man living in a park, the family standing in line at a soup kitchen.
But have you also seen the elderly woman, once evicted due to life’s circumstances, who now lives independently in a comfortable apartment? Or the single mom with children who can finally escape domestic violence thanks to the safety of her own home?
We have. It’s life changing.
The common denominator is a pressing need for high-quality, affordable housing, which the City of Phoenix recognizes. Our plan values innovative community and corporate partnerships. The result: veterans, seniors, families and essential workers are closer to the American Dream of homeownership. [...]
This did not happen in a vacuum. To reduce barriers to development, increase the supply of public housing, and leverage financial assistance for residents, the city needed to innovate its policies, programs and initiatives. Intentional collaborations with housing developers and nonprofit organizations working in accessible housing were a must . [...]
Partners such as Atlantic Development & Investments, which has built 1,238 affordable units in the city by working closely with Phoenix.
To read the full op-ed, click here .
Housing affordability is a complex issue impacting cities across the country, and influenced by many factors outside of cities’ control, including population growth, the pace of housing construction, mortgage rates, costs of labor and materials, supply chain, and the proliferation of investor-owned short-term rentals.
The City has implemented other initiatives aimed at ensuring housing is affordable, equitable and attainable, including:
- Zoning ordinance changes that facilitate more housing options and address accessory dwelling units, multifamily parking standards, mobile homes, and the Walkable Urban Code.
- 20% of land zoned for multifamily housing (36,480 acres), representing the largest percentage of multifamily in Maricopa County for cities with 75,000+ residents.
- 1,382 Shelter Beds planned or added since 2022.
- Wi-Fi at more than 35 affordable housing communities, ensuring 4,200 low-income residents have free access to highspeed internet, and connecting them to jobs, telehealth, and education opportunities.
