Some new state laws dealing with housing are set to take effect with the new year, and cities across Arizona are working to bring their ordinances into compliance.
The measures aim to increase the supply of housing among other things, they require more multi-family housing in certain areas and allow for more accessory dwelling units, or ADU’s, commonly known as casitas, on lots. But, there’s been some debate as to whether the changes some cities are making actually align with the new state laws.
Tom Belshe, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, joined The Show to discuss what he is hearing from city officials across the state about how they’re trying to adapt their ordinances to these new state laws related to housing.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Tom, what are you hearing from city officials across the state about how they're trying to adapt their ordinances to these new state laws related to housing?
TOM BELSHE: Well, you know, there was five really significant pieces of housing legislation that passed last year and so, as always, they are working to be compliant with state law and there's a lot going on at once. Some of this legislation, some of the especially ones that require us to do studies are going to be due at the end of this year. So there is a rush to complete that work as well as work on changing their ordinances to be in compliance with the new state statute.
So we're very enthusiastic about our ability to get the things done and be in a spot to start complying and helping with with getting housing built. We don't build the homes, but we're trying to follow state statute to create a better situation for homes to be built.
BRODIE: Well, so have you found that cities are sort of taking similar approaches? Are you seeing any trends with how cities are trying to implement these new state laws into their city or town codes or ordinances?
BELSHE: One of the nice things about, one of the things that I appreciate about working at the League is that one of the big things that we do for the cities and towns is help them, especially with model ordinances. So, for example, House Bill 2720 it's an ADU bill that passed. And so, for cities and towns 75,000 and above, they can have, you know, depending on, on conditions, they can have up to three ADUs on, on their property.
Several of our cities already had working ADU ordinances, but they didn't include all of these new conditions. And so we put a model ordinance together for them that they can adjust for, you know, local issues and local concerns. And, you know, they're, they're getting to work on that. And the same thing with House Bill 2721 and 2297. Now, 2721 is what we call the middle housing bill. That's the bill that allows them to build town homes and plexes. That one doesn't become effective until January 1 of 2026.
But contemplating where those new types of homes are going to go and under what conditions, again, this isn't something that's a part of city and town ordinances right now. So we have a model ordinance that we're putting together for that, that we're working with the attorneys on House Bill 2297 is what we call adaptive reuse. And so that's commercial property that, you know, you might think of like a strip mall area. And so this is the ability to convert that type of property into housing.
And again, a model ordinance is necessary to be put into place so that builders will know, OK, you know, that area can be used for adaptive reuse. And so this is a very important part of what they're doing is getting these ordinances in place so that they can legally do the things that they need to do to comply with the law.
BRODIE: So there is, of course, some disagreement about whether certain cities are in fact complying with the law. I know that there's been some disagreement between some members, for example of the Scottsdale City Council and Republican legislative leadership about one of the ordinances that the Scottsdale council passed not that long ago, dealing with the percentage of, of commercial buildings that could be taken and turned into housing.
I'm curious how you anticipate those kinds of disputes being settled. I mean, do they have to go to court? Are these, this has been an issue that the cities in the Legislature have been fighting over pretty vehemently for a couple of years now. Is this one that can be settled through negotiation, do you think?
BELSHE: Well, to me, that's going to be a question that has to be answered in some respects by those individual cities. We are trying to create a situation in which there's clarity about what exactly needs to be done. And so, I think that unfortunately some of those may end up in court, but what we're trying to do here and the only thing that I can really comment on is that we're trying to create clarity for the cities and towns so that they know what they need to do to comply with, with the law. And where they end up going, that's an individual city decision and so that I kind of have to leave that to them.
BRODIE: OK. Do you anticipate that there might be more disputes between the state and its cities over sort of how to interpret the laws or how to implement the laws on the city or town level?
BELSHE: Maybe. What I have found so far, you know, is that the vast majority of the stuff that we're hearing is preparation for compliance with the statute. And so that's all really I can comment on is that most of our cities and towns are adopting ordinances and feel that they're prepared to start complying with the statute when it becomes effective.
BRODIE: What are you hearing about whether or not housing will continue to be an issue when the new Legislature convenes in January? And I'm wondering maybe if, if the League and its member cities and towns have ideas or bills that you would like to put forward about how to deal with the ongoing housing crisis.
BELSHE: We, we know that it's going to be, there's a, you know, a Starter Home Act that, that didn't get passed last year. We are working on coming up with agreement amongst the cities about what we're going to put into our bill. But the actual policy decisions that will go into that have not been made yet, but it is something that will be part of the legislative debate next year.
I think we will continue to have those policy debates over there next year about how properly to deal with it. We would like the Legislature to take a look at not only how does city regulation affect building, but what are we doing as a state to deal with some really important macro economic issues like workforce, materials, interest rates, those have a lot more to do with the price of housing than city regulation does.
But we've completely focused on that and helping cities and towns to be able to put in infrastructure for the housing that should be built. So we're hoping also that we'll look at other things besides just city regulations, planning and zoning as part of what's gonna come up next year.
