A new study will look at affordable housing strategies in Pima County after officials voted to move the plan forward.
Pima County will spend $425,000 of its $5 million annual Regional Affordable Housing Committee fund to commission a study to look at different housing options and their viability.
Local officials have spent the last few years identifying issues with housing. But Chief Medical Officer Francisco Garcia told county supervisors exact solutions are still unclear.
“Although we all acknowledge that there is insufficient housing, the question is, where should that housing be, and what kind of housing do we need,” he said at a recent Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting. “Do we need multi-family housing? Do we need workforce housing? Do we need low-income housing?”
Garcia said the new study would help clarify the best way to spend existing housing funds, better understand market needs, and identify potential partners to help build structures down the line.
“Until that time that we have data to inform those discussions, we’ll be laboring in the dark to a certain extent,” he said.
County supervisors voted 3-2 to approve the study. Supervisors Adelita Grijava and Steve Christy voted not to move it forward, arguing housing funds were already short and would be better put elsewhere.
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