Recent Urban Europe Report On Affordable Housing > How Does This Translate To The New Urban DTMesa?

Which European Cities Have the Most Affordable Housing?

Residents may think they know, but a massive new report suggests a far more complex reality.

Feargus O'Sullivan @FeargusOSull Sep 9, 2016

Readers of this blog - and residents of Mesa - may ask why this post now?

Clue = the announcement in the accompanying image of a forum initiated by local first Arizona taking place this week on Thursday 15 September from 6-8 pm @ Rancho del Arte here on Main Street.

Last Thursday your MesaZona blogger attended another forum @ ASU in Tempe called "Building Great Places" where Kimber Lanning spoke to an enthusiastic audience eager to hear about some of the strategies for that outcome.

Here in Mesa in just the past four years ground was broken for affordable housing, construction completed and doors were opened for affordable housing opportunities with more in the works ahead - Encore on First in the image to the left was the first design-award winning project in over 30 years to be built downtown with 80 1- and 2-bedroom apartments for active residents of a certain age attracted to new urban form-based zoning transit-oriented development. Encore on First West, another building by Mesa housing Associates, opened a few months ago in the previously-vacant lot at 47 W First Avenue

Affordable housing for 160+ families opened in the Washington Escobedo area to re-active an older blighted neighborhood  with a variety of housing types: attached single-story and 3-story townhouses built by Gorman Construction.

Four original buildings have been conserved. 

Support services for residents are right across the street in a building deeded by Gorman to Save The Family.

 

La Mesita Apartments is located directly on the path of Valley Metro Light Rail with 150+ affordable housing units and on-site support services for individuals, families and the homeless, as well as a Financial Opportunity Center for those that want to take advantage of what is offered.

 

The developer of Rancho del Arte, Community Development Partners with brothers Eric and Kyle Paine as main principals, chose a site to replace a blighted motel named El Rancho, opening last year for 70+ families in 2- and 3-bedroom apartments located along the perimeter of an open-to-the-sky inside atrium with family activities spaces. No parking lot here - cars use an under-podium enclosed parking garage. The front ground floor space is dedicated to use by residents and families with art and other classes provided in a partnership with The Cultural Coalition and New Leaf right on-site. A well-maintained community garden is at the back of the property along with a small pool. Ground has been broken for Phase 2.

Kyle Paine will be one of the speakers at Thursday's forum - bringing developers and the downtown community together for a public airing of new re-generation opportunities here

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What's on the radar screen your MesaZona blogger gets excited and thrilled about?

No doubt quite a few more in private discussions . . .

• Definitely NOT ASU/Downtown Mesa [sorry] ...but
• both small-scale re-adaptive actions like the Alhambra Hotel with Lorenzo Pérez/Venue Builders, and
• larger mid-rise projects like
• the NWC corner of Country Club/Main for a mixed-use commercial/residential development by Chicanos Por La Causal in a public/private partnership,
• re-activating a redevelopment wreck where Rendezvous Park used to be,
• plans for the public space at Pioneer Park,
• Mesa ArtSpace Lofts on Hilbert Street,
• the entire 10-acre city block between Main Street/First Avenue between Hilbert/Airline purchased by John Graham/Sunbelt Holdings,
• Two more affordable/mixed live + work projects at First Avenue and MacDonald Street
• Re-newed developer interest at 1 W Main Street, a prime location right across from the Mesa Arts Center for mixed-use commercial/residential/office
• Surely there's gotta be "a higher-and-better" use than a parking garage on the north side of Main Street directly across from whatever John Graham is working on -people are curious
• What about 62 S Center Street? Sold a few months ago with plans "under-wraps"

 

According to Eurostat's 2015 Urban Europe report [PDF], published this week, most European big city residents feel that decent housing they can afford is increasingly hard to come by. . .

Predictably, it is in wealthy northern European cities where people feel that finding good value housing is toughest. . . But when it comes to the realities of housing affordability, how much credence can we give to this one measure, based on public opinion?

Taken together, these surveys create a nuanced but sometimes confusing reflection of life in Europe's cities, something to be expected in a report that contrasts attitudes with facts. Eurostat's study nonetheless contains some more concrete details on exactly how much of a toll daily living costs take across the continent. To do this, they use an E.U. developed marker called a correction coefficient. This marker takes a Brussels salary as a base line and then calculates what percentage of that salary a person would need to earn to achieve the same lifestyle in another European location. The results should come as cause for alarm for Londoners in particular.