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Arizona lawmaker says plan to convert Mesa hotel into homeless housing 'misguided'

Mesa city officials are seeking to buy a motel for $7.4 million to provide shelter for unhoused residents. Some state lawmakers have joined the chorus critical of efforts from multiple cities to provide temporary housing.

Conservative state Rep. Matt Gress called Scottsdale’s failed effort to house people displaced from "The Zone" in a hotel “good news for taxpayers” in late August.

Fellow Republican Barbara Parker called a similar plan in Mesa “misguided and controversial” in a statement Tuesday. It’s part of the Off the Streets Program, which started in 2020.

At past public meetings residents voiced concerns about public safety, property value, and the use of American Rescue Plan funds to create a permanent base for the 90-day transitional housing program.

The Grand Hotel on Main Street and Power Road would house families, seniors and survivors of domestic violence.

The next step will be for the Housing and Community Development Advisory Board to discuss the project.  The board’s next meetingon Thursday, Oct. 5, will include a presentation on the program. Residents can provide spoken or written comments at the meeting.

Kirsten Dorman is a field correspondent at KJZZ. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dorman fell in love with audio storytelling as a freshman at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2019.