Yes… but a lot more needs to be done.
Most of you are well-versed in the role social determinants of health play in influencing public health and determining health outcomes. Among the most important social determinants of health is the ability to find safe and affordable housing.
That determinant (affordable housing) has been getting worse and worse in Arizona (especially urban AZ). With rents and housing prices skyrocketing over the last several years – it’s been harder and harder for lower income Arizonans to find an affordable place to live.
While there are many factors causing the housing and rent increases – among the biggest drivers are restrictive city zoning rules that prevent more dense housing developments. There were efforts to do something about the zoning problems that are causing higher rent prices last year at the AZ State Legislature, only for opponents (the League of Cities and Towns and antidevelopment people) to derail a compromise that would have improved things.
One bill would have paved the way for higher-density housing near light rail with 20% of those new homes set aside for lower-income residents.
A second bill would have made it easier to build small homes, known as Accessory Dwelling Units next to single-family homes.
To supply more affordable housing for seniors, the legislation would also have made obtaining permits easier for developing houses that could be shared.
The League of Cities and Towns killed those proposals – instead backing stuff like allowing more casitas statewide (which also didn’t even pass).
While those bills wouldn’t have immediately solved the housing crisis, they would have helped by sparking much-needed changes in the zoning and building process and countering the not-in-my-backyard-ism problem that is driving the unreasonable zoning restrictions that contribute to the lack of supply.
A small victory was made at the local level last week when the Phoenix City Council approved a plan to let residents build backyard casitas – over the objection of the well-organized and super loud anti-development NIMBY crowd. The vote was even 8-1!
See: Phoenix legalizes backyard casitas: What you need to know
The new policy is just a small piece of the puzzle, but still important. Why is it a small piece of the puzzle?
Let’s look at the evidence. Tucson approved a similar policy 2 years ago and they’ve still only had a few dozen permit applications for casitas. Maybe it’ll be more significant in Phoenix? We’ll find out in the next couple of years.
City staff still have some work to do like coming up with ways to prevent them from becoming Airbnb’s (prohibited by the measure).
Lawmakers will likely begin debating statewide options to address the housing crisis – including micromanaging zoning for cities. If cities don’t step up with some practical solutions (more aggressive than this casita thing) – they may get statewide zoning micromanagement in the end. Will they stay obstinate? We’ll see. I bet they do.
The new City of Phoenix regs say casitas can’t be more than 15 feet high, can’t be more than 75% of the size of the primary home. On a 10,000-square-foot lot, they can only be 1,000 square feet. On lots larger than 10,000 square feet, they can’t be bigger than 3,000 square feet or 10% of the lot size (whichever is smaller).
