BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — With 9% of Bisbee's houses used for short-term rentals, taking away over 200 homes from people who need permanent residence, the city is turning to an innovative solution to address its housing shortage.
A new tiny home neighborhood is coming to Bisbee, developed by United Tiny Homes to help alleviate housing shortages and costs for people looking to live in the city.
"There's a huge need. So, we're not the only community, but many communities need much more affordable housing," said Ken Budge, mayor of Bisbee.
According to a housing study done for the city of Bisbee, 66% of Bisbee households couldn't afford to buy an average-priced home.
"A lot of our workforce is being frozen out of the ability to purchase a home in Bisbee and work here. And so one of the city's main objectives is to make it possible for people to live here and work here," said Stephen Pauken, Bisbee city manager. “There will, in the next 10 years, be a huge demand for housing for people who work for a living. Okay, and so this is where we're going, in terms of our strategy moving forward, is to put it out there so that people can move here, live here, work here.”
With this in mind, the city changed zoning policies to allow for tiny homes and manufactured homes to be placed on smaller lots.
"The idea of being able to build on smaller lots with smaller structures, cuts down on all the costs involved in developing a subdivision and building homes," Pauken said.
The project is starting with a 17-acre lot off Melody Lane that's in the process of being sold to United Tiny Homes out of Goodyear. The land was donated to the city, only to be used for affordable housing.
"Our vision for the community really is to create a neighborhood. Within this neighborhood," said Gail Kingsbury, CEO and co-founder of United Tiny Homes. “We want to create attainable housing. So we're in this to help communities to bring housing to Arizona.”
She says they plan to put at least 80 400-square-foot tiny homes on the land.
Austin Bennett, president and chief building officer of United Tiny Homes, explained why tiny homes are an attractive option for buyers.
"These tiny homes are actually growing in value. So it's an attainable asset for them, so they can actually purchase it and not worry about losing their money," Bennett said.
United Tiny Homes is still working with the city to finish the purchasing agreement, which Pauken says should happen by the end of the year. This means work can start next year on bringing the houses to the area.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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