According to Street Scout, the state of Arizona is short on housing by about 100,000 units. Homelessness is on the rise in the state as 400 people living in tents and sleeping bags near Phoenix’s Human Services Campus were forced to to move due to lack of room. Federal tax credits pump in $200 million a year to provide 1,500 to 2,000 affordable homes in the state, but it's not enough. “We are looking for the private market to step up, and thankfully are seeing a lot of interest and support there,” said Carol Ditmore, director of the Arizona Department of Housing.
Metro Phoenix’s growing affordability problem is increasingly a priority for not only housing advocates but business and government leaders. On Wednesday, when hundreds of people living outside Arizona’s biggest homeless shelter were moved, more than 100 Valley leaders met a few miles away to figure out ways to build more affordable housing quickly.
Home prices and rents have climbed much faster than incomes in metro Phoenix during the past decade. That mismatch has created a housing crunch for a growing number of people. Those looking for the most affordable homes are being squeezed out and end up living in cars, tents, parking lots and in front of homeless shelters that are full.
“For every 100 Arizona households earning 50% of the median income, there are 45 rental units available and not occupied by someone with a higher income,” said Christopher Ptomey, executive director of Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing. He spoke to a packed room at the ULI Arizona Health, Equity & Housing Solutions meeting in Phoenix on Wednesday.
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