The opinion piece below by Suzanne Pfister originally appeared in the Arizona Capitol Times on February 8. Read it online here. 

The reality of the Arizona housing shortage is not only creating barriers to home ownership, but even the ability to have a roof over one’s head. We see the statistics on the news and have friends and family who cannot find an affordable home to buy or rent. It’s time to get creative with our land use as well as new funding streams to help tackle housing underproduction.

Up for Growth revealed in its recent report, “2023 Housing Underproduction in the U.S.” that new builds alone have been insufficient to meet demand. Basically, there are more people in need of homes than homes being built.

In 2023, Metro Phoenix experienced a record number of evictions, with landlords filing to evict renters more than 83,200 times, according to the Maricopa County Justice Courts. Similarly, a Redfin report concludes that the average homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment is up 20% from 2022. Housing costs are expected to continue to rise until high demand stops exceeding low supply.

Vitalyst Health Foundation believes that “housing is health” and that access to attainable housing has the power to improve communities across Arizona. Vitalyst took a closer look into the Up for Growth report and evaluated some solutions that would provide relief for the housing supply crisis in Arizona.

Consider this: Roughly 75% of residential land is used for single-family detached housing, and when combined with restrictive zoning laws, make it difficult to build attainable housing anywhere in the Valley.  Unsurprisingly, more than 48% of renters pay more than the recommended 30% of their monthly income on rent and utilities.

Greater zoning flexibility is a solution that would address the housing crisis by providing options for cities to combine housing with community centers, parks, churches, schools and even libraries. Co-locating housing – sharing a site currently being used for another purpose – with other local amenities is an inventive way to integrate family housing within the fabric of our communities.

A Redfin report indicates that the average teacher can afford only 12% of the homes for sale and only 25% of rental housing within 20 minutes of their workplace. (Katz and Bokhari, 2023). At Vitalyst, we partnered with seven school districts and matched them with local developers to develop concept papers on how schools could locate housing on school properties.

Vitalyst is working with community leaders on a Workforce Housing Fund to invest in lower-interest loans and equity to create resources that can be utilized to accelerate workforce housing. This will contribute to housing options for those who take care of us daily: teachers, drivers, home health, and service workers.

“A housing market that meets the needs of workers and families is a foundation for economic development, financial stability, and wealth building opportunities.” Those are qualities of a healthy community. It’s time to get creative, break out of the traditional mode of single-use facilities, and allow innovative technologies and funding to address our structural housing supply shortages.