TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — To help relieve a shortage of affordable places to live, Pima County Supervisors are devoting a larger share of property tax dollars to build more affordable housing.
The move will not raise taxes for the coming tax year.
Pima County supervisors are trying to relieve homelessness by encouraging developers to build more housing low income people can afford to rent. They’re doing that by using a larger share of the property tax homeowners pay to create incentives for developers to build affordable housing.
Advocates for the homeless believe many of them are simply priced out of the market by rent prices they just can't afford. Pima County was already devoting five million dollars a year to encourage construction of low income housing but Supervisor Matt Heinz advocated adding $3.5 million more.
He convinced a board majority to use an additional 1.5 percent of the budget to create more housing incentives.
Heinz says the county can raise that money without raising property tax bills for this coming year.
It’s part of a ten-year plan to use three percent of the budget to reduce homelessness.
Heinz says, “The goal is to over that decade generate at least 200 million dollars more than what we have already been investing in affordable housing. over these past several years.
He says that should be enough to build about 12,500 housing units—about one third of projected demand.
Supervisor Steve Christy opposed the plan. He says it’s not fair for people who saved to afford a home to see taxes on their homes subsidize housing for someone else.
He says, “I’m still just amazed that we’re going to have a ten year plan here designed to go over that amount of time with no public hearing, no public input, no public discussion. I think that is a grave injustice to the people that are paying for this whole program.”
But other supervisors say they’ve discussed the plan in earlier meetings and have heard from enough constituents to feel the plan should go forward.
