Elizabeth Morales

The Pima County 10-year Regional Housing Strategy and Funding Plan is a collaborative framework designed to address critical housing shortages and stability challenges across the region. It outlines five core goals: expanding the supply, diversity, and affordability of housing; increasing the availability of housing for low-income households; promoting access to opportunity by investing in affordable housing in low-poverty and revitalization areas; enhancing housing stability and preventing displacement; and bridging households experiencing homelessness into stable housing. The plan serves as a roadmap to coordinate efforts, aligning the County's role as a funder and convener with other authorities to achieve these objectives over the next decade.

The subcommittee held its inaugural meeting to establish priorities and focus areas. The committee discussed creating a communication and narrative strategy to change the public perception of homelessness and housing issues, emphasizing systemic solutions over individual-focused narratives. Key topics included tracking national and state housing policy trends, addressing institutional investor impacts on rental markets, and potentially aligning the subcommittee's communication efforts with city housing department projects and community-rooted storytelling.

The subcommittee discussed strategies for increasing housing production, addressing the lack of project success in recent tax credit bond allocations, and advocating for state-level changes to support middle-income housing projects. Discussions also included the importance of homeownership, the role of community land trusts, and the impact of local government regulations, impact fees, and energy codes on the cost of building new housing within the city.

The commission meeting covered city and county housing updates, including the launch of a new shelter bed dashboard. Updates were provided regarding middle housing code amendments, housing emergency declarations, and future code revisions. Additionally, the meeting included reports from newly formed subcommittees, specifically regarding their work plans and goals for identifying barriers and expert stakeholders in the development sector.

The document outlines the agendas and study sessions for upcoming meetings involving fiscal year budget discussions, the Safe City Initiative, detention center resolution developments, parking rate changes, water supply updates regarding PFAS, and regional legislation. Additionally, it includes business items such as liquor license applications, property assessments for the downtown improvement district, various intergovernmental agreements, rezoning cases, and public hearings related to water rates and city department fees.