PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – With housing prices on the minds of voters, state lawmakers have introduced a measure that would add tens of millions of dollars to the state’s low-income housing trust fund. But it’s what the measure would do to zoning laws that is alarming some neighborhood advocates.
“There has to be a balance between making housing property available and saying to people who are already there, ‘Tough on you!’” said Susan Edwards, who is the chair of the neighborhood group, “Neighborhoods Connect.”
Edwards is not alone in her opposition to House Bill 2674, which is currently stalled in the legislature. The League of Arizona Cities and Towns also opposes the measure, saying it will eliminate single-family zoning in Arizona.
The bill would require municipalities to allow eight single-family dwellings per acre or 12 two-family dwelling units per acre on other specified lands, regardless of current residential zoning. On Tuesday, the House Commerce Committee held the bill, which means it is stalled for the time being.
SOURCE: https://www.azfamily.com/2022/02/11/affordable-housing-plan-would-rewrite-residential-zoning-laws/
AUTHOR: Morgan Loew