The City of Phoenix has issued a Request for Proposals to build affordable housing on eight lots in a part of the city where the average price of a home is now just under $420,000.
The move is a part of the city’s four-year old Housing Phoenix Plan, which is designed to spur new affordable housing in various sections of the city. That plan has a stated goal of either constructing or preserving up to 50,000 homes by the end of the decade.
The targeted lots have a dollar value varying between $470,000 and $625,000 and are all located in Sunnyslope, a settled neighborhood of around 50,000 residents in northern Phoenix.
Since its adoption in 2020, the Housing Phoenix Plan has both built and preserved around 10,600 affordable housing units, along with another 11,200 that are classified as workforce housing.
The idea behind the plan has seen City of Phoenix selling property it owns at a sometimes less than market rate price and thereby incentivizing private developers to build more affordable units.
Besides the affordable income component, any new housing project in Sunnyslope, says the RFP announcement, must be compatible with the “neighborhood and surrounding area,” especially as regards height and density.
The RFP has a submission deadline of March 14.
January 7, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of the City of Phoenix
