Gov. Katie Hobbs this week signed four housing-related bills into Arizona law. She said she hopes the legislation will help rein in rising costs.
"It’s not just the dream of homeownership that’s out of reach for so many today, it’s even the goal of stable, affordable rental housing," Hobbs said during the signing event Wednesday. "Making sure that Arizonans are not priced out of housing has been a top priority of my administration."
The National Low Income Housing Coalition ranks Arizona’s housing shortage for extremely low income people second-worst in the nation. The organization estimates the state is 133,684 housing units short of demand for extremely low income renters.
The new laws aim to expand housing stock and streamline the process for new construction.
House Bill 2720 requires municipalities with more than 75,000 residents to adopt regulations to allow accessory dwelling units, or casitas, to be built on lots with single-family homes.
Similarly, House Bill 2721 requires those municipalities to allow development of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes or townhomes on all lots zoned for single-family residential use.
The other two laws address zoning issues. House Bill 2297 requires some municipalities to allow multifamily residential development for up to 10% of the total existing commercial, office or mixed use buildings.
Senate Bill 1162 is intended to speed up the approval process for construction projects. It requires some municipalities to publish regular housing needs assessments and to establish set time frames to review zoning applications.
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Desert Design kicks off this week with a variety of speaking events, exhibits, and gatherings. This year, its theme is "Collected in Dialog." -
he event, called PhiusCon, is being put on by a nonprofit called Phius, which certifies professionals in its passive building standard. This is the first time in the conference’s more than two-decade history that it’s taking place in the Southwest. -
The building, located at Central and Camelback, has been under construction for several years. But now, One Camelback is ready to serve as housing. -
The city says more than 9,000 accounts are significantly behind on payments — that comes out to nearly $24 million in past-due balances. Phoenix had suspended water shut-offs in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. -
As the majority of voters believe the economy and their own financial situation is getting worse, their candidate preferences reflect that.
