The City of Phoenix is defending a lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute challenging its sale of a downtown parcel appraised at $4.8 million to affordable housing developer Pennrose for approximately $1.5 million. Goldwater argues the deal violates Arizona’s constitutional gift clause and that the city’s inclusionary housing requirement in the request for proposals violated state law barring mandatory inclusionary zoning. The case could set a precedent limiting how Arizona cities use land sales to incentivize affordable housing production.
