In a recent article in The Arizona Republic, journalist Alden Woods writes that Arizona’s affordable housing and rental supply can currently meet only a quarter of the state’s need, according to an annual report released Thursday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). The state now has just 25 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income rental households.
Wood clarifies that the term “extremely low-income” applies to any household living below the poverty line or earning less than 30 percent of their area’s median income. That group includes mostly seniors, people with disabilities and the working poor.
The crisis has coalesced around the state’s largest cities. Both Phoenix and Tucson now are among the nation’s most difficult metro areas in which to be poor and need a place to live: Tucson offers 24 units per 100 extremely low-income households. The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area, as it’s called in the report, has just 21 units.
That makes Phoenix the 10th-tightest rental market in America.
Like most wide-scale problems, Arizona’s affordable housing shortage has hit its poorest residents hardest. The report found that 78 percent of Arizona’s poorest households spend more than half their income on housing. That’s a state of living the NLIHC calls a “severe housing cost burden.”
Only two states — neighboring Nevada and California — have a affordable housing greater shortage.
The affordable housing crisis has swept over every American community. But the shortage’s effects have particularly devastated the Southwest, where explosive population growth and rapid real-estate development have hollowed out the supply of cheap housing.
Six of the nation’s eight worst states for poor renters are located west of the Rocky Mountains, according to the report. Nevada has the greatest shortage, at 19 rental homes per 100 households. California is second, with 22. Arizona is third.
Trellis is Helping
The real estate and development team at Trellis has been rehabilitating and constructing homes to be used as low-income housing throughout the Phoenix-metro area. Since 1975, Trellis has renovated or built over 300 homes. They plan to have another 130 units completed by the end of 2021.
Trellis at Colter Offers Affordable Living with Modern Comforts
Affordable housing does not mean low quality housing. The newest Trellis community is Trellis@Colter located at 1617 W. Colter Street in Phoenix. These three-story townhomes are built with top-grade materials to ensure quality construction, as well as enegry efficiency. These WiFi-enabled “workforce housing” homes are also equipped with digital locks, Ring doorbells, modern Samsung appliances, and are prewired for smarthome technology and solar power.
Just minutes from light rail stops, the Central Corridor, Grand Canyon University, and downtown Phoenix, this community offers convenience, too.