16 March 20th-March 26th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to continue its antitrust lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage. “Millions of renters — including many in Arizona’s two largest cities — have been harmed by this unlawful conduct. This scheme stifled competition, created a de facto rental monopoly, and drove up housing costs for working families,” Mayes said in the letter. “This is a national crisis.” Liguori agreed that corporate home- owners and landlords exacerbated the housing crisis. “Housing scarcity and market forces keep prices high, but private equity and greed only make things worse by exploiting the situation,” Liguori said. But Hernandez sees greedy corporate landlords as a symptom, not the cause. “We know that private equity firms have focused on shoring up our limited housing supply in states like Arizona that help drive up costs,” Hernandez said. “They are able to do that because we have not kept pace on building to match our growth.” Possible solutions On its face, the solution is simple: Build more homes. Hernandez sponsored various affordable housing measures in the Arizona Senate and made housing a centerpiece in her trium- phant City Council campaign. She said it was important to not only build more housing units but also a wider range of them. She wants more starter homes, town- homes and duplexes, and fewer zoning restrictions to prevent such units from being built. “While we work towards guardrails to managing corporate ownership, it is crit- ical we use all the tools at our disposal to build more homes that are attainable to all Arizonans,” Hernandez said. Liguori told New Times that addressing the housing crisis will require a multifac- eted approach, which should include expanding the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and investing more in the state’s Housing Trust Fund. But mainly, it’s about building more units. Williams echoed that. “The housing crisis isn’t a temporary bubble created by speculative investors. It’s a chronic shortage,” Williams said. “And the only way out of a shortage is by building more — much more.” One major effort to address the issue is already making its way through the legisla- ture. Earlier this month, the Arizona Senate passed Senate Bill 1229 — also known as the Starter Homes Act — in a 16-13 vote. The bill was sponsored by Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick and had support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. If it becomes law, it would tamp down on local regulation of home-building and prevent cities from rejecting housing proposals for reasons like aesthetic designs, which lawmakers hope will allow for more new, affordable homes. Some opponents, like Democratic state Sen. Mitzi Epstein, believe it gives too much power to developers and takes too much from cities. A similar bill passed both chambers last year but was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs, who cited concerns from the U.S. Department of Defense. The new version of the bill has been altered to address some of those concerns, though that doesn’t mean it’s a lock to pass. Hobbs has put out her own housing proposal that both dove- tails with and diverges from the Starter Homes Act. What’s clear is that Arizonans want more housing and they’re not being picky about it. In the Noble Predictive Insights poll, respondents were asked if they would support a new apartment complex being built near them if it would lower housing costs. That kind of question historically has raised NIMBYish responses — that stands for “not in my backyard” — but Arizonans seem to be in a YIMBY mood. Nearly 60% of respondents said they’d support the construction of a new apart- ment complex, while only 25% said they’d oppose it. That support “contradicts the usual ‘not in my backyard’ narrative,” wrote pollster Mike Noble, “and signals that residents recognize new construction as essential to addressing the affordability crisis.” For the second year in a row, a bipartisan housing bill may land on the desk of Gov. Katie Hobbs. She vetoed one last year and has proposed her own housing plan this year. (Matt Hennie) Phoenix City Councilmember-elect Anna Hernandez said private equity firms can take advantage of Arizona’s housing market because the state has not built enough units to keep up with demand. (TJ L’Heureux) Can’t Buy? Bye Bye. from p 13
